Supplement Four
Mongoose
I just finished The People of the Summit, an excellent pastiche short story by Bjorn Nyberg and L. Sprague de Camp. Like a lot of Howard's stories, this one creates an entire micro-world that both adds depth to the story (that life goes on beyond what Conan sees and hears) and keeps me wondering about the culture and people that Conan briefly met.
I think this story is an excellent basis for a creative GM to take and mold into a Conan adventure. It would make for an excellent, old fashioned dungeon crawl, set in the Hyborian Age, of course.
The players could hear about the ancient serpentine keep that sits atop the summit of the Misty Mountains in southern Turan.
Random encounters there would include the hairless apes (which seem to me to be a "missing link" type of creature, as has been suggested in some of Howard's stories--such as Rogues in the House, but Thak was hairy, of course) that have been trained to include combat with sword, shield, and lasso. There's the craggy mountain terrain. And the mist! Of course, the sorcererous mist that hides the bad guys as they attack!
A thought for a creative GM: The People of the Summit have been there, living among themselves, for centuries. Good sequels will take the original story and take it to a new and interesting place. So what if, in this sequel to the short story, the players find out that the apes really aren't missing link types. What if they are actually the People of the Summit, who have devolved due to the centuries of inbreeding?
Que Deliverance banjo music. Cut to Hairless Ape: "You sure gotta pretty mouth." :shock:
Wouldn't that be interesting? In the story, Conan kills the remaining 11 "humans", the 9 men and 2 women. But, what if those were the mages of the People? Using their dark magic to keep themselves alive. The normal folk of the People have long since devolved into the hairless ape-things that the People use as their defense?
Neat idea?
In the story, the Keep must be about empty. He fights his way in, kills the last 10 People, and then their ancient pet from a time before Atlantis sank.
What of other People survive, still living in the castle? A few stragglers? Maybe all the women are dead because it is said that Conan has killed their entire race. But, one or two semi-powerful People could serve as major bad guys as the PCs venture into the ancient and seemingly abandoned Keep.
What if the PCs think of the hairless apes as trained animals by the People--or as magically trained by the ancient sorcerers, but, when the PCs realize that the apes are really the result of centuries of in-breeding, they can witness the apes having more intelligence than they think the apes should. What the PCs are witnessing is evolution--the apes learning again, growing, becoming human, in a neanderthal kind of way.
What if the apes are now in control of the Keep?
What if there's a connection between Thak, from Howard's story Rogues in the House and this adventure? Thak was taken from the hills around Zamora. Maybe, as part II of the adventure, the PCs are led to Zamora where more evidence of the People exist?
What's inside that Keep? How big is it? What's to fight and what's to take? An old fashioned dungeon crawl, heavy on the story, with connections to both Howard and pastiche Conan tales?
Hell, what about the PCs coming upon the head hariless ape, and he looks at them, with intelligence in his eyes, and speaks! With a English accent! :wink: "Might I help you?" Ah-la Planet of the Apes!
There's plenty there for the GM to make an involving, engrossing adventure. And, there's plenty of "push" ideas, too. From the simple: Thieves attracted by loot, Mages attracted by a powerful magic item, Soldiers sent there by the king of Turan. To the more complex: The PC's campaign have uncovered an ancient document that led them to Aghrapur, then Samara, and finally to the Keep on the Summit of the Misty Mountains.
I can be very customizable for an ongoing campaign.
Thoughts on this?
Ideas on how to make the adventure more interesting?
I think this story is an excellent basis for a creative GM to take and mold into a Conan adventure. It would make for an excellent, old fashioned dungeon crawl, set in the Hyborian Age, of course.
The players could hear about the ancient serpentine keep that sits atop the summit of the Misty Mountains in southern Turan.
Random encounters there would include the hairless apes (which seem to me to be a "missing link" type of creature, as has been suggested in some of Howard's stories--such as Rogues in the House, but Thak was hairy, of course) that have been trained to include combat with sword, shield, and lasso. There's the craggy mountain terrain. And the mist! Of course, the sorcererous mist that hides the bad guys as they attack!
A thought for a creative GM: The People of the Summit have been there, living among themselves, for centuries. Good sequels will take the original story and take it to a new and interesting place. So what if, in this sequel to the short story, the players find out that the apes really aren't missing link types. What if they are actually the People of the Summit, who have devolved due to the centuries of inbreeding?
Que Deliverance banjo music. Cut to Hairless Ape: "You sure gotta pretty mouth." :shock:
Wouldn't that be interesting? In the story, Conan kills the remaining 11 "humans", the 9 men and 2 women. But, what if those were the mages of the People? Using their dark magic to keep themselves alive. The normal folk of the People have long since devolved into the hairless ape-things that the People use as their defense?
Neat idea?
In the story, the Keep must be about empty. He fights his way in, kills the last 10 People, and then their ancient pet from a time before Atlantis sank.
What of other People survive, still living in the castle? A few stragglers? Maybe all the women are dead because it is said that Conan has killed their entire race. But, one or two semi-powerful People could serve as major bad guys as the PCs venture into the ancient and seemingly abandoned Keep.
What if the PCs think of the hairless apes as trained animals by the People--or as magically trained by the ancient sorcerers, but, when the PCs realize that the apes are really the result of centuries of in-breeding, they can witness the apes having more intelligence than they think the apes should. What the PCs are witnessing is evolution--the apes learning again, growing, becoming human, in a neanderthal kind of way.
What if the apes are now in control of the Keep?
What if there's a connection between Thak, from Howard's story Rogues in the House and this adventure? Thak was taken from the hills around Zamora. Maybe, as part II of the adventure, the PCs are led to Zamora where more evidence of the People exist?
What's inside that Keep? How big is it? What's to fight and what's to take? An old fashioned dungeon crawl, heavy on the story, with connections to both Howard and pastiche Conan tales?
Hell, what about the PCs coming upon the head hariless ape, and he looks at them, with intelligence in his eyes, and speaks! With a English accent! :wink: "Might I help you?" Ah-la Planet of the Apes!
There's plenty there for the GM to make an involving, engrossing adventure. And, there's plenty of "push" ideas, too. From the simple: Thieves attracted by loot, Mages attracted by a powerful magic item, Soldiers sent there by the king of Turan. To the more complex: The PC's campaign have uncovered an ancient document that led them to Aghrapur, then Samara, and finally to the Keep on the Summit of the Misty Mountains.
I can be very customizable for an ongoing campaign.
Thoughts on this?
Ideas on how to make the adventure more interesting?
