Few complaints of Conan RPG Books

[Spectator]

You bring up a great point in the terror check example.
I think a lot of people expect rules and a dice roll will be able to set the world in an arrangement which is logical and coherant.

I have noticed that the more you rely on rules, the less fun you have.

A good GM makes his own rules, its a story after all and the GM is the prime architect. It is fantasy and oftentimes some things don;t follow the rules of physics.

A Good GM would Houserule a solution to that terror check issue involving two sets of risen dead. I sure would have.

 

[Jotenbjorn]

Bah, I hate terror checks. I house rule that PCs are shaken whenever they would normally be compelled to flee, if the player then decides the character will flee then he runs. If a player thinks his character would bravely stand his ground he bravely stands his ground.

 

[PrinceYyrkoon]

Bah, I hate terror checks. I house rule that PCs are shaken whenever they would normally be compelled to flee, if the player then decides the character will flee then he runs. If a player thinks his character would bravely stand his ground he bravely stands his ground.

I agree wholeheartedly with that ruling.

 

[Spectator]

No typing in scotch dialect allowed.

 

[VincentDarlage]

1: what is it with Shadizar and Arenjun, they bounce around Zamora like a pinball machine...
Howard place Shadizar to the southern border, beside the Road of Kings

Where does Howard state this? Name one story by Robert E. Howard that places Shadizar where you claim.

As for Arenjun, Dale Rippke's scholarship proves that Arenjun and The City of Thieves cannot be the same cities, despite what de Camp suggests. See also: http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=532637&sid=cbcf5e8a0a62fbe7a78b6a1725cf376d

See here for a map of Zamora based on modern scholarship.

 

[PrinceYyrkoon]

Where does Howard state this? Name one story by Robert E. Howard that places Shadizar where you claim.

I think it was Roy Thomas who put it there.

 

[VincentDarlage]

I think it was Roy Thomas who put it there.

Shhhh.... He claimed Howard put it there as though he knew this with authority. Just pointing out that he doesn't know as much as he thinks he does.

 

[PrinceYyrkoon]

Uh, sorry, I just got a little overexcited.

 

[VincentDarlage]

4: Kosala in Players Guide: +2 Str no negatives, (same with Saami, +2 Con, no negative, S&P), what to stop folks taking these culture to avoid negative abilities, The kosala is a tool fa Priests, maybe -2 Wis or Cha, not sure what Saami are and not know how they behave, but what kinda intelligent person would live in such hostile eviroment, so -2 Int!?!

It takes an intelligent person to survive in a hostile environment, so your latter argument doesn't really work. The only example of a Kosalan I could find didn't seem to lack for Wisdom or Charisma. I am sure if someone wants to play min-max, the Kosalan is a good choice. I figure most people prefer to play a character they can get into from a culture they are excited about, so I didn't worry too much about the imbalance in the stats.

5: Return to Road of Kings: what can I say, Maps in black and white dark ink, cannie see any names properly, that the amazing clarity 1st edition had, the high quailty paper, the colour, fantastic, to the cheap black and white, yuck... ok, I say no more

Can't really disagree with you here. You can find the maps I sent Mongoose at Xoth's site.

6: ah Kosala again, what with their great strength and no negative abilities, pick their country up over there heads and move like and winding line of ants to south of Khitai? :wink: :shock: :evil:

Not sure what you are referencing here.

 

[flatscan]

Well, I got my 1st Conan Novel Book 34 years ago when I was 10 years old and if u look at the map provide, I presume Howard sketched the Map, but I maybe wrong, but on the southern border to Koth, Shadizar will be the City badly spelt called Shandigar and Also Arenjun is located on Cross road to Khauran, Koth and vaste Desert going to East and the expanding Turan Empire, true it would be debated then that to many cooks kill the soup, but I have based my knowledge on what image I was given then by those I presume know what they where doing

yip, just spent 10 minute pulling out my old novels from the shelves,

states: The map provided: Based on notes and sketches by Robert E. Howard and apon previous maps by Schuyler Miller, John D. Clark, David Kyle and L. Sprague de Camp with a map of Europe and adjacent regions superimposed for referance...

work, work, work... remember these maps are from 80 years ago about in thoery.

That map you're looking at wasn't by REH. The original version of it was but was polluted, like all things Conan, by L Sprague de Chump. REH never created a city called Arenjun, that is an invented name by the pastiche writers. Get the Del Rey Conan books as all that is pure Howard with his maps included and blissfully free of all the pastiche crap.

 

[Yogah of Yag]

4: Kosala in Players Guide: +2 Str no negatives, (same with Saami, +2 Con, no negative, S&P), what to stop folks taking these culture to avoid negative abilities, The kosala is a tool fa Priests, maybe -2 Wis or Cha, not sure what Saami are and not know how they behave, but what kinda intelligent person would live in such hostile eviroment, so -2 Int!?!

I wrote the "Saami" article. If a ref/player doesn't like something, he is free to change it. Simple. That's the most important rule in any roleplaying game. You could impose a -2 pen to any other ability score you choose, if you think it's necessary.

A good RPG player should say 'I want to play a Saami character because I'm interested in a PC with that interesting cultural background', and not 'I want to play a Saami character because he does not have any statistical drawbacks, while other races do.' The former philosophy is good roll-playing, while the latter is metagaming. Unacceptable.

If you are the GM/ref do whatsoever you please. If you are a player, go to the GM/ref earnestly and politely, and tell him what you would like out of the game, and if he is an intelligent and fair type of bloke, he will allow what you want. If not, then he's probably a wanker control-freak and should be avoided at all costs.

The reason why I got fed up with the whole d20 system is that it has created an entire generation of RPGers who feel that 'building' the 'perfect' conglomeration of abstract statistics is more important than role-playing and enjoying the collective experience of a RP session. That's why I went back to the fundamentals of the hobby by returning to First Edition D&D. If you are spending more time on creating characters or arguing over the tactical minutiae of a combat encounter, then it's time to change the ruleset. Use D&D, use Savage Worlds...hell, even use Classic Traveller, if you think that will allow you to have fun. REH's stories can be realised in RPG-terms in many ways, not just the so-called 'official' MGP version.

Sessions with friends and/or family should be spend immersed in the entertaining, engrossing, collaborative narrative and not spending hours or days on end fussing and fuming about what statistics constitute 'game-balance', gruelling over the intricacies of skills, feats, synergy bonuses, etc.

Best Wishes,

~~Yogah/William.

 

[VincentDarlage]

Well said, Yogah. I agree totally.

 

[VincentDarlage]

but I have based my knowledge on what image I was given then by those I presume know what they where doing

yip, just spent 10 minute pulling out my old novels from the shelves,

states: The map provided: Based on notes and sketches by Robert E. Howard and apon previous maps by Schuyler Miller, John D. Clark, David Kyle and L. Sprague de Camp with a map of Europe and adjacent regions superimposed for referance...

Howard's sketch only included country borders, not city locations. Those were determined by L. Sprague de Camp, and his research was more often than not rather poor, to be charitable.

 

[Spectator]

I agree enitrely.

4: Kosala in Players Guide: +2 Str no negatives, (same with Saami, +2 Con, no negative, S&P), what to stop folks taking these culture to avoid negative abilities, The kosala is a tool fa Priests, maybe -2 Wis or Cha, not sure what Saami are and not know how they behave, but what kinda intelligent person would live in such hostile eviroment, so -2 Int!?!

I wrote the "Saami" article. If a ref/player doesn't like something, he is free to change it. Simple. That's the most important rule in any roleplaying game. You could impose a -2 pen to any other ability score you choose, if you think it's necessary.

A good RPG player should say 'I want to play a Saami character because I'm interested in a PC with that interesting cultural background', and not 'I want to play a Saami character because he does not have any statistical drawbacks, while other races do.' The former philosophy is good roll-playing, while the latter is metagaming. Unacceptable.

If you are the GM/ref do whatsoever you please. If you are a player, go to the GM/ref earnestly and politely, and tell him what you would like out of the game, and if he is an intelligent and fair type of bloke, he will allow what you want. If not, then he's probably a wanker control-freak and should be avoided at all costs.

The reason why I got fed up with the whole d20 system is that it has created an entire generation of RPGers who feel that 'building' the 'perfect' conglomeration of abstract statistics is more important than role-playing and enjoying the collective experience of a RP session. That's why I went back to the fundamentals of the hobby by returning to First Edition D&D. If you are spending more time on creating characters or arguing over the tactical minutiae of a combat encounter, then it's time to change the ruleset. Use D&D, use Savage Worlds...hell, even use Classic Traveller, if you think that will allow you to have fun. REH's stories can be realised in RPG-terms in many ways, not just the so-called 'official' MGP version.

Sessions with friends and/or family should be spend immersed in the entertaining, engrossing, collaborative narrative and not spending hours or days on end fussing and fuming about what statistics constitute 'game-balance', gruelling over the intricacies of skills, feats, synergy bonuses, etc.

Best Wishes,

~~Yogah/William.

 

[VincentDarlage]

As To Kosala moving, Look at maps provided by AE and 2E then look at map in Return to Road of Kings to see Kosala has been place under Khitai.

All of those maps are messed up and incorrect. Here is the correct positioning of Kosala, as determined by Howard scholar Dale Rippke.

Also we seem to be getting a side tracked, I was glad when Conan RPG gave credit to the other writers that have kept Howard's stories alive, have we stopped using these people as reference or are we using them only when we need to.

We don't use other writers if their writings contradict what Howard wrote. L. Sprague de Camp's map placements often do this, thus they need to be disregarded. You might consider reading this article by Don Herron, and you might see why de Camp's work is not considered as canonical as Howard's.

 

[Spectator]

Nialldubh,

If it makes you feel any better, I had a discussion w/ Vincent von D. about his misplacement of the Cimmerian holy mountain Ben Morgh. Of course, howard never wrote about it. It is pure pastiche (Conan the Valorous, great story, BTW)from my favorite pastiche author John Maddox Roberts who writes an excellent S.P.Q.R. series, nowadays. But as I was saying, the interpretation of others whether printed or not should never dissuade you from putting what you want where you want, after all these all are INTERPRETATIONS. If your guess is good then the place should lie where it lies and not where others think of them.

For the record, I think Vincent did put Ben Morgh way too east from the Vanir border.

 

[Phobos]

A good RPG player should say 'I want to play a Saami character because I'm interested in a PC with that interesting cultural background', and not 'I want to play a Saami character because he does not have any statistical drawbacks, while other races do.' The former philosophy is good roll-playing, while the latter is metagaming. Unacceptable.

The reason why I got fed up with the whole d20 system is that it has created an entire generation of RPGers who feel that 'building' the 'perfect' conglomeration of abstract statistics is more important than role-playing and enjoying the collective experience of a RP session. That's why I went back to the fundamentals of the hobby by returning to First Edition D&D. If you are spending more time on creating characters or arguing over the tactical minutiae of a combat encounter, then it's time to change the ruleset. Use D&D, use Savage Worlds...hell, even use Classic Traveller, if you think that will allow you to have fun. REH's stories can be realised in RPG-terms in many ways, not just the so-called 'official' MGP version.

Sessions with friends and/or family should be spend immersed in the entertaining, engrossing, collaborative narrative and not spending hours or days on end fussing and fuming about what statistics constitute 'game-balance', gruelling over the intricacies of skills, feats, synergy bonuses, etc.

Best Wishes,

~~Yogah/William.

I agree totally with you.

 

[djd]

I think People disregard the work De camp and Carter did keeping Howard's work alive (and the other writers), as far as I get it, he probably had more access to Howard's work than most, if he made an error, it was as I noted as another said, Howard was capable error in his writting also, so we do the best we can with what we got, I thx De Camp, Carter and the others for the work they done, I have had years of enjoyment allowing me to thrive on my natural emotion and use the instinict of the force behind there attempt to make us feel the danger and thrill of Conan's life.

Darn late again, bye...

As you say de Camp and Carter deserve HUGE credit for keeping the Conan stories alive - if it weren't for their efforts very few of us would ever have heard of Conan. De Camp got the stories released by Gnome press in the early 50's - otherwise they'd still be langishing in the pulps along with countless other heroes. I like the Tarzan stories but who reads those now? And Burroughs was a far bigger fish than Howard....

The location of Shadizar on the Road of Kings comes at least in part from the map in Andrew Offutt's Conan and the Sword of Skelos

 

[djd]

Better late than never?? :lol: