Hyborian Bestiary

[The King]

An Hyborian bestiary is scheduled for this summer and I opened this thread to make sure every critter makes its way into the book. So feel free to add your ideas (but please quote your sources).

I noticed that some monsters are lacking in any Conan book (until now) though they belong to what could be considered canon (even if it stems from pastiches):

- the ice worm (the lair of the ice worm)
- the giant slug (Hall of the dead)
- brylukas (the flame knife)
- the massive entity of the outer world (conan of the isles)
- the ghost-entity (the castle of terror)
- the demons of the night (the hand of nergal)
- the ogre-like creatures (Conan the barbarian)
- I would also include the demon lord Dagoth (Conan the destroyer)

 

[slaughterj]

Sounds good, and I hope the bestiary:
1. is updated to the new edition, and
2. includes the following:
a. all prior monsters, creatures, animals, etc. from all the materials published thus far, and addresses the varying stats in different sources (e.g., lions from 3 different sources, etc.),
b. the requests mentioned above,
c. all monsters, creatures, animals, etc. from forthcoming supplements for at least a couple of months, so the book isn't instantly outdated, and
d. has additional new monsters, creatures, animals, etc.

 

[B_Steele]

Your suggestions are very welcome. Although I know a great deal of what I'm putting in it already, and some of your ideas were already on my list, I'm glad to see that some folks on here are thinking about this already.

That being said, I can't talk too much more about what I'm doing, but know that I am watching this thread and will take note of stuff I may not have thought of.

Cheers all,
Bry

 

[bjorntfh]

Also, I really hope they stop giving all animals good dodge and reflex like barbarian. It really breaks the system when an elephant has a defense of something around 25-30 with a huge natural DR. Non-predatory animals should have 1/3 dodge and predatory ones should have 1/2 otherwise you end up with ludicrously powerful animals. (I've been in a group that had to fight a mammoth. we nearly lost 4 9th level characters because we couldn't hit it more than half the time and it had so much DR and HP that it destroyed the party.)

 

[The King]

(I've been in a group that had to fight a mammoth. we nearly lost 4 9th level characters because we couldn't hit it more than half the time and it had so much DR and HP that it destroyed the party.)

Hyborian life is hard. :twisted:

Your suggestions are very welcome. Although I know a great deal of what I'm putting in it already, and some of your ideas were already on my list, I'm glad to see that some folks on here are thinking about this already.

That being said, I can't talk too much more about what I'm doing, but know that I am watching this thread and will take note of stuff I may not have thought of.

Cheers all,
Bry

I feel it's important because it is a core book and I hope it will have more than just 96 pages :wink: .
I didn't read all the pastiches and don't any of the comics but I am sure there are many who can propose excellent ideas.
Anywat the creatures in the list I submitted are those I really feel are missing until now.

 

[Evil_Trevor]

The 'Goblin' from Hour of the Dragon, which I first read under another title, the creature summoned by Thoth amon to kill his former master (who is trying to assasinate Conan)

 

[The King]

the creature summoned by Thoth amon to kill his former master (who is trying to assasinate Conan)

this one already exist in the scrolls of skelos (as the servant of the ring).

 

[slaughterj]

the creature summoned by Thoth amon to kill his former master (who is trying to assasinate Conan)

this one already exist in the scrolls of skelos (as the servant of the ring).

Then perhaps it would be helpful to have a source reference for each creature to the story from which it comes, so people can use what they are looking for based on the stories. At least to some extent, e.g., Howard's works, this would be useful (and presumably one title would be good enough, not some where they have different ones, else this could become a "mammoth" task).

 

[Sutek]

Your suggestions are very welcome. Although I know a great deal of what I'm putting in it already, and some of your ideas were already on my list, I'm glad to see that some folks on here are thinking about this already.

That being said, I can't talk too much more about what I'm doing, but know that I am watching this thread and will take note of stuff I may not have thought of.

Cheers all,
Bry

Well, that being the case, don't go light on varied animal entries. D&D was lacking in this area, but Conan needs it even more not being a high fantasy setting. I'm talking separate entries for lion, tiger, panther, lynx, house catdog, war dog, hunting dog, wolf, elephant, giraffe, zebra, riding horse, pack horse, war horse...you get the idea. The fantasy creatures are great, but when you want to buy a war dog and know it's capabilities, nobody should have to wing it for something so simple.

Small varient listings for these would be suitable. Something in a smaller typface (8pt as opposed to the main copy 10pt, for example) would be an ideal way to include multiple similar animals/vermin/creatures without taking up too much room.

Just my own GM pet peeve, so I thought I'd make the suggestion. :wink:

 

[Bjorn the Barbarian]

I am also in agreement that we need more of the normal mundane animals, but the more exotic animals would also be nice. Such as the exotic African & Asian animals, giant serpents and animals, the various dinosaurs, prehistoric mammals, etc. All of which are very Howard!

I would like to see some rare fantasy type Conan creatures as well. Such as the Satyrs, Nagas, Brythunian Dragons, and the S'tarra.

It would be good to have all of the previous published creatures also included so that we have all of them in one handy volume and don't have to search through ten different books to find a particular creature.

Just my two coppers.

 

[The King]

the creature summoned by Thoth amon to kill his former master (who is trying to assasinate Conan)

this one already exist in the scrolls of skelos (as the servant of the ring).

Then perhaps it would be helpful to have a source reference for each creature to the story from which it comes, so people can use what they are looking for based on the stories.

I agree with you on this. One of my greatest reproach of the Conan original books is that though they use a lot of quotes, they never mention where they come from.

 

[VincentDarlage]

One of my greatest reproach of the Conan original books is that though they use a lot of quotes, they never mention where they come from.

That comes from the editing, not the writing. I remember Ian Sturrock's drafts citing the sources, and I know when I use a quote, I also write where it came from. The editors removed them from several of the books.

 

[FailedSpotCheck]

The editor(s) should be strung up by their gonads. :evil:

 

[Scorpion13]

One of my greatest reproach of the Conan original books is that though they use a lot of quotes, they never mention where they come from.

That comes from the editing, not the writing. I remember Ian Sturrock's drafts citing the sources, and I know when I use a quote, I also write where it came from. The editors removed them from several of the books.

Huh. Thats kinda odd.

I wonder why theyd do that. Did they tell you?

 

[The King]

One of my greatest reproach of the Conan original books is that though they use a lot of quotes, they never mention where they come from.

That comes from the editing, not the writing. I remember Ian Sturrock's drafts citing the sources, and I know when I use a quote, I also write where it came from. The editors removed them from several of the books.

I believe you; I think Maps and edition are the major weaknesses of Mongoose. I hope they can only improve in this fields.

 

[Valaryc]

I think Maps and edition are the major weaknesses of Mongoose. I hope they can only improve in this fields.

fire the monkey that is sitting at a desk with his banana and hire a highschool kid....even that would be much better

 

[The King]

fire the monkey that is sitting at a desk with his banana and hire a highschool kid....even that would be much better

In the recent books, maps were very good but the most were edited out.

 

[Valaryc]

fire the monkey that is sitting at a desk with his banana and hire a highschool kid....even that would be much better

In the recent books, maps were very good but the most were edited out.

edited out ??? ....so we have found the monkey :wink:

 

[The King]

edited out ??? ....so we have found the monkey :wink:

There was some similar problems in Runequest books (not about maps but about specific things Gloranthan who didn't make it in the final product).
I think most of the books were written with 160 pages in mind but Mongoose decided to cut them down to 96 pages (most text for the books were finished up to one year before). The reason is far from obvious but Mongoose didn't explain.

Anyway they have now a new printer facility in Britain (instead of China) and Matt told they would probably release bigger books (with more page count) again. At least that is good news, isn't it?

 

[Netherek]

Yes, that is good news. I hope that will be the case. How about consistency in book dimensions, the paperbacks have different heights... :?