Extending the Conan RPG

[Seeker]

Hi.

Now that Conan has established itself as a rocking S+S Role Playing system with an excellent game world, isn't it time that the game was extended to other REH worlds.

The rules for characters, combat, magic, terror and creatures in Conan provide a solid foundation.

King Kulls world could be covered in a supplement.

Add a supplement with rules for swashbuckling, black powder weapons, cannons and the Elizabethan Age (something like D20 Past tried to be) and you have Solomon Kane. (Or the hero in Black Vulmeas Vengence)

For a different take, how about a supplement for Almuric, extending the system to cover roleplaying in the Planetary Romance genre on other worlds (bit like Conan meets John Carter of Mars)

Or even to an OGL Pulp-type game, where Howardian heroes in the 1930s fight battles in the Wild West, seek lost worlds in jungles or deserts and fight Lovecraftian horrors. (You could crossover with OGL Horror for this)

What do you think?

 

[Trodax]

Add a supplement with rules for swashbuckling, black powder weapons, cannons and the Elizabethan Age (something like D20 Past tried to be) and you have Solomon Kane.

I recently read the Solomon Kane stories for the first time (they are great - almost as good as Conan!), and would totally buy such a supplement.
Great idea!

Or even to an OGL Pulp-type game, where Howardian heroes in the 1930s fight battles in the Wild West, seek lost worlds in jungles or deserts and fight Lovecraftian horrors.

I think Chaosium are soon to release Pulp Cthulhu, which will probably be something like this. I don't think it will be d20 though.

 

[Jason Durall]

Hi.

Now that Conan has established itself as a rocking S+S Role Playing system with an excellent game world, isn't it time that the game was extended to other REH worlds.

The rules for characters, combat, magic, terror and creatures in Conan provide a solid foundation.

King Kulls world could be covered in a supplement.

Add a supplement with rules for swashbuckling, black powder weapons, cannons and the Elizabethan Age (something like D20 Past tried to be) and you have Solomon Kane. (Or the hero in Black Vulmeas Vengence)

For a different take, how about a supplement for Almuric, extending the system to cover roleplaying in the Planetary Romance genre on other worlds (bit like Conan meets John Carter of Mars)

Or even to an OGL Pulp-type game, where Howardian heroes in the 1930s fight battles in the Wild West, seek lost worlds in jungles or deserts and fight Lovecraftian horrors. (You could crossover with OGL Horror for this)

What do you think?

As cool as many of these projects would be, there are many stumbling blocks:

The Kull property is owned by folks other than Conan Properties, and they're not so eager to deal with licensors (I've heard due to the terrible movie).

I believe that Solomon Kane is similarly unavailable. However, someone could, for example, use Green Ronin's Skull & Bones as a solid basis for a Solomon Kane campaign, adding monsters from Conan or other games.

Sadly, for some reason, publishers are extremely wary of doing pulp or planetary romance games. Both have been mentioned frequently on Mongoose's boards ("What should Mongoose publish next?") but honestly, there's probably not the market for them to really succeed.

 

[sbarrie]

Ashton Clark Smith's Zothique may not have the fan support for a full game, but it would make a nice soft cover alternate campaign setting for the Conan game.

 

[thulsa]

Ashton Clark Smith's Zothique may not have the fan support for a full game, but it would make a nice soft cover alternate campaign setting for the Conan game.

You could also check out the fan-created Zothique d20 here:

http://www.eldritchdark.com/misc/zothique-d20.html

- thulsa

 

[Seeker]

Regarding Zothique, I believe Roy Thomas incorporated it into the Conan saga in Conan the Savage #10, "The Necromancers of Na'at".

I think he renamed it as Mayapan, a mysterious continent in the Western Hemisphere where Conan goes after his adventures in Conan of the Isles.

So it is possible PCs in the Conan game could explore there too.

 

[René]

A Kull supplement would be cool: you could run adventures along the reincarnation stories by REH (James Allison and several others) - your heroes enter a ruined city in the desert recently blown free by sand storm and suddenly remember an earlier incarnation, e.g. when they sacked the same city as part of a northern barbarian horde.

I did this a few times in Cthulhu (back into historical times, but also back into the Hyborian Age and Atlantean times as well). My PCs loved playing Neanderthal savages for a half session instead of their usual well educated characters!

 

[rigante]

I found a Solomon Kane free RPG on the web a few years ago.

Don't know much about it as it was in French, and I don't speak/read French. It was a pdf so I couldn't even put it through an online translator.

Anyone want to hunt it down and translate it let me know and I will point them in the right direction.

 

[Ant]

... The Kull property is owned by folks other than Conan Properties, and they're not so eager to deal with licensors (I've heard due to the terrible movie).

I believe that Solomon Kane is similarly unavailable. ...

I think both are owned by Robert E. Howard Properties, LLC.

They seem to be hard to reach by licensors... see this thread on conan.com. Is that the same as "not eager to deal"? Maybe.

But that hasn't stopped the Bran Mak Morn movie... "A mythical king forges an alliance of supernatural troops to protect Britain from the Roman Empire."

Mant of REH's stories are public domain. But that doesn't necessarily imply that REH's characters are...

Ciao,
Ant