Future Supplements

[Anonymous]

Hi All

We're squaring away the future supplements for Conan over the next six months, and I thought i'd put a call out to you guys to see what sort of things you'd like to see after that.

We have Scrolls of Skelos (magic), The Gazeteer (now increased to 200 pages based on astonishingly detailed and comprehensive work turned in by Vincent Darlage, the author) on the release schedule, with something involving boats coming afterwards...

After that, what would you guys want to see?

More books about different countries in Hyboria?

City guides?

Player guides?

Campaigns?

Guidebooks for GMs on different aspects of Hyborian games mastering?

 

[bodde]

I would like to see (in order of importance ):

1 A campaign
2 A guide containing new classes, rules, monsters etc..
3 A Gamesmasters Screen
4 More books about different countries in Hyboria


Greetz
Bodde

 

[Outlaw]

Well, that all depends on how detailed the Gazetteer is. Not knowing the content, it's hard to know what to ask for later.

I'm also a bit torn, being a Howard purist and a writer at the same time, I'd like to see more detail on lands other than Aquilonia (the Nordic lands often seemed to be one-trick ponies). I'd like to see more depth, but at the same time dreadfully fear whoever does it screwing up!

A city guide would be fantastic. But not just a book full of cities, but all the major cities getting their own books! (Obviously there are only a few major cities, but those places are infamous and deserve a good look.)

A monster book is always a standard thing to do, but I'd love for Stigia to get its own book. It seems the primary source of the world's malevolence. And of course, my own interests would like to see the Kushites and the other black countries included as well (are they included as a playable race in the core book?).

A book of relics, treasure and unique items may serve well as a basic book of plot hooks (what the bad guy uses, what the PCs want to steal, etc etc).


Still, it's hard for me to say what I'd really like to see without knowing what's in the gazetteer and the core book. After I see those, it'll make my decision-making much easier.

 

[Anonymous]

Well, that all depends on how detailed the Gazetteer is. Not knowing the content, it's hard to know what to ask for later.

Very, it's 200 pages and i'm currently looking at it being around 8.9-9.0 font size.

 

[Atlantean DM]

Well, that all depends on how detailed the Gazetteer is. Not knowing the content, it's hard to know what to ask for later.

Very, it's 200 pages and i'm currently looking at it being around 8.9-9.0 font size.

Wow! I hope this license thing works out for you (front list and all that).

 

[Outlaw]

Well, that all depends on how detailed the Gazetteer is. Not knowing the content, it's hard to know what to ask for later.

Very, it's 200 pages and i'm currently looking at it being around 8.9-9.0 font size.

So we get details of all the different kingdoms? Vanaheim and Aesir, the Pictish Wild Lands and Hyrkania, Stygia and the kingdoms of the Blacks and everything in between?

With a 200 page gazetteer and 9pt font, is there enough content remaining to detail the various cities in a separate book?


Random thought that just came to mind: Howard was pretty specific with major events in his history of Hyboria. It would be interesting to see all the poiltical machinations that built up to the Second Great Cataclysm put into a super-module. A long-term, high-level event that shakes the world to its very foundations (sure it would be odd to do that at the beginning of a line, but I find that kind of historical content intriguing: the conquering of Hyperboria and the priest of Mitra inadvertantly giving the necessary knowledge to the Picts to allow them to break through to Aquilonia and fell the empire).

 

[the_gneech]

1. Electronic support (character generator), big priority
   
2. Campaign/scenarios: a 60-page booklet of 1-3 page scenario ideas (and some maps, maybe a couple of monsters/treasures) would be incredible.
   
3. Hour of the Dragon sourcebook, with expanded stats/bio for Xaltotun, the Heart of Ahriman, maps, etc.
   
4. Kull/Atlantis sourcebook.
   
5. More scenarios! Just because I never get enough.
   
6. Lankhmar -- oops, did I say that?

-The Gneech 8)

 

[Anonymous]

It's 200 pages and i'm currently looking at it being around 8.9-9.0 font size.

Some of us have poor vision and would prefer a larger font size. Persanally, I'd rather buy two books of larger size print than one superbook with tiny print.

 

[Flint]

More books about different countries in Hyboria?

yes, detail. lots of detail. Looking forward to the Qunitessential Stygia!

 

[Outlaw]

1. Kull/Atlantis sourcebook.

-The Gneech 8)

Kull: He was another character written by Howard. End of book.

Atlantis: it sank, the people fled, they became Cimmerians. End of book.

 

[Samvail1]

... a catalogue of pre-generated NPCs, thugs and villains. Say 3 versions of the same thug, low, mid and high level. A variety of races with the appropriate racial benefits.

I always find the pre-generating of NPCs to be a chore, especially with the d20 systems need for skills. Conans racial benefits are also an added complication, what with some races having favoured weapons, etc.

Sam

 

[Mythos]

While this may be the wrong thread to post this in, the following is a link to a site with excellent photos of, IMO, an eastern Hyborian era city.

http://www.sacredsites.com/december2001pages/bam.htm

 

[Anonymous]

In no particular order:

Outlaw, The main rulebook covers all those, the gazeteer will cover them all in 2-10 page write-ups. I'm not sold on the idea of an 'end of the world' campaign for Hyboria but who knows.

the_gneech: Electronic support would be dependant on someone coming to us with a proposal. The gazeteer has scenario hooks for each country but yes, a book of encounters/campaigns and scenarios is on my 'to do' list. We're also looking at potentially providing pdf adventure support.

Hour of the dragon sourcebook: All of the major characters and objects from Hour of the Dragon will have been featured by the end of the Gazeteer (In books, Signs and Portents or as web downloads).

Kull/Atlantis: Kull is a different License and the Atlantis background is pretty scant.

 

[Rhianni]

1: Campaign. I have been having a hard time how I will be able to get the feel of the Howard stories into an adventure well enough that those who have not read the books can enjoy the atmosphere. I do NOT want them to be left with the impression that Conan = D&D without magic

2: Kingdom information. Sounds like the Gazeteer will cover this. Each country should list what makes it unique and different from the others and of what technology level each one is at.

3: Community and Organization books. The pirate bands that Conan belonged to. The mercenary raiders that harrased Turan. The different carrers that Conan had would be what people want to play.

4: City Books (low priority) The only one that I can think of that has enough content Shadizar or possibly Tarantia.

 

[Anonymous]

.pdf suppliments would be very welcome assuming I don't have to order them on RPGnow and pay for download. I hate those. I would ALWAYS rather buy a hardcopy from my local game shop.

Source books are always good and especially if there are quality adventure primers to support each subject. THOSE are the sourcebooks I think are worth the purchase.

Adventures. Lots of published adventures. Quality ones, not hashed out to get them out ones. My greatest hope is that Mongoose can nail a conan module (or whatever you call them these days) that is as good as The enemy within module for GW's Warhammer RPG was. THATS the way Conan should be. Focus on the strengths of the hyborian age. Warhammer was popular because of the rich environment and the modules took advantage of that. They started to suck when they became more "D&Dish" with standard dungeons that could easily have been on Krynn as the Warhammer world. Ars Magica is probably a better comparison for Hyboria, another great game, but Warhammer was so much more fun. If you follow that formula, Ill buy everything you publish.

Electronic support is always great too.

 

[the_gneech]

Well it doesn't do much good to ask for suggestions and then shoot 'em all down!

Maybe take some place and really flesh it out ... Arenjun or Shadizar, for instance, with detailed maps, lots of NPCs, plots, subplots, and campaign hooks, and so forth.

As for there "not being a lot of detail about Atlantis," well DUH, that's why you guys have to write the thing, isn't it?

-The Gneech 8)

 

[slaughterj]

I'd like to see a historical chronology of events, with a timeline of major occurences, based on the novels, including and particularly emphasizing during Conan's lifetime. This may or may not be part of the main book, but it is good to know who is in power in which country and when, who is at war with who when, etc. so that one can maintain story continuity.

 

[Jason Durall]

I'd like to see a scenario book full of one-shots which adapt the Conan stories, wholesale, to being player-focused scenarios. With a few twists and turns, and modifications made for the larger number of protagonists, these could be fun.

For players who've not read the stories, this will be a great introduction, and to players who are familiar, enough could be tweaked to make them different enough to be playable (like the James Bond 007 RPG did with the adaptations of the films/novels).

My reason for this is that these would be tremendously useful for one-shot, low-prep games which would be the gaming equivalent of playing in Conan's shoes. Ideally, also, the scenarios would be loose enough that the players could play Conan and/or a sidekick or two.

The Conan RPG is wonderfully suitable for one-on-one or small-group gaming, and this would be an indespensible product towards that style of play.

 

[Cavalier]

Perhaps a Shadizar boxed set

A book of maps and legends

Perhaps a book of detailed NPCs

 

[Mythos]

As for there "not being a lot of detail about Atlantis," well DUH, that's why you guys have to write the thing, isn't it?

-The Gneech 8)

Part of the problem with anything dealing with Kull is that the rights are owned by a different group then the Conan rights.
Any attempt to create any type of supplement would require getting those rights, then getting approval from the Conan holders to attatch it to a Conan license, and then writting it up for a supplement.
Since the horrid Kull film, the owners have been very reluctant to allow anything other then the publication of the stories.

As to asking Mongoose to create a background for the Kull stories. that's asking them to dance on the sword's edge. The purists will scream foul if it did not follow their image of the setting. The non-purists will just say that they are re-writing Conan to produce an unneeded supplement to make money.

There are a couple of good sites with information on Kull. A detailed reading of the stories and a reveiw of those sites should allow anyone to be able to create their own homebrewed rules for a Kull setting.