HyboriaQuest

[Magistus]

I know people usually just say if you want to run a Hyborian game using the RuneQuest rules use the main RQ books and the Magic from Lankhmar. But what about the Gods of Hyboria, and what runes you think would be associated with them if any at all, or the beasts of Hyboria. And as for magic, I don't think that the magic from Lankhmar fits all magicians. Looking at the Conan movie the wizard in the movie I think would be more of a hedge wizard and I thunk Sceaptune Game's petty magic would be a good fit fo that type magic user.

So why am I starting this post? So we have a post where we can create a Hyborian World for RuneQuest.

 

[sidkfjjteidlkkf]

Although I gave up my Hyborea conversions, I can say, I did away with Runes. I kept the spells and used them for Other things.

Gods are easy to convert, just look at Cults of Glornatha I and II and find a like god, and use them.

 

[SnowDog]

As far as I am conserned (most) of the religions don't teach magic and those gods don't actually answer to prayers. So I would do it away pretty much as fluff and even "priestly" magic is same as that used by more worldly scholars.

 

[Puck]

One of the big problems I can see with a low magic world like Hyperboria or Lankhmar is healing. Conan generally does not get chopped up like the average RQ adventurer on an adventure by adventure basis (although, I do remember him getting crucified). I don't know if first aid skill is quit enough, but then again, I've never really campaigned on a low magic world.
The second issue is flavour. Having at least a certain amount of gods and magic just adds a lot with what you can do as far as storytelling goes.
If you like the idea of runes you could use them as a magic system for Hyberborians, Vanir, or Aesir.
What I would probably do with religions is take a look at the simple cult template in the main book and make up a set for Crom, Mithra, Ishtar, Set(followers of Set probably would use sorcery rather than Divine magic) and whoever else(I must admit it has been a while since I read the books). Just for roleplaying purposes, I would ignore the fact that these gods did not generally give spells to their followers in Howard's work.
For instance, you mentioned the magician in the movie. I cannot imagine Howard's Conan befriending and hanging out with a wizard ( I remember grinding my teeth a little when those movies came out). Conan also hung out with magic-users in the comic on occasion. I personally would use a little dramatic license in changing Howard's Hyperboria into a slightly more runequest/roleplaying friendly setting and adding a little more magic.

 

[Magistus]

As foe healing you could introduce alchemy into the game, have a potion, or healing salve to help in the healing process.

 

[Ari]

One of the big problems I can see with a low magic world like Hyperboria or Lankhmar is healing. Conan generally does not get chopped up like the average RQ adventurer on an adventure by adventure basis (although, I do remember him getting crucified). I don't know if first aid skill is quit enough, but then again, I've never really campaigned on a low magic world.

I've played in, and DM'd low magic RQ and have found that players quickly realise that its easy to get hurt badly, and rate encounters as being more dangerous simply because its harder to heal.

As a DM I found that it works best to have smaller encounters further apart in time. i.e. typically some easier lead up encounters and then a single major encounter after which the players can head home/rest, etc, as required. Every now and then one or more key players get badly wounded and thats the end of the attempt, the players fail, must rest/go home and try again (if possible).

The classic "dungeon crawl" style adventures didn't really work for us, again because healing was so slow you simply can't grind your way through dozens of encounters day after day. Then again the sort of Sword and Sorcery stories I remember tended to be short and sharp anyway, and low magic RQ suits it well.

First aid is probably enough to patch the players up sufficiently to let them get home.

Resilience also becomes a very important skill.

We made up a skill in the old RQ to allow players to "go on" when the wounds say that they can't walk, etc. Possibly "Resilience" in MRQ could be used in a similar way. e.g. currently you roll for resilience each turn from major head/chest/ab wounds to avoid unconsciousness, but maybe, if you get a critical success it means you have managed to stabilise yourself (could be the equivalent of a "first aid" success), and no longer need to make the roll every round.

cheers, Ari

 

[CthulhuFnord]

I've been re-thinking Magic and Cults recently. I like the way Elric handles Cults, particularly for the Darker religions. I could easily see the Cult of Set requiring the dedication of 1 pow or more to join, with regular ritual sacrifce required at the higher ranks. Here's more or less what I'm imagining for the cult.

The Cult of Set

Cult Skills : Courtesy, Evaluate, Influence, Language : Stygian, Language : Archonion, Craft : Poisons, Craft: Torture, Lore: Set, Lore: World, Perception, Stealth

Principle Duties : Obey the priests of Set

Cult Spells / Summonings
Mystic Vision, Venom, Dominate : Serpent

Gifts
Serpent Familar, Divine Training, Ward : Poison, Slave

Cumpulsions
*Blood Sacrifice to Set every week
*Human Sacrifice to Set every week
*Compelled to betray the plans and scemes of everyone encountered. Requires a persistance test to control the desire.
*May never harm snakes or serpents

 

[Magistus]

While thinking about a low magic settings and healing. A thought would be to give the characters more Hero Points to use to allow them to spend them on changing wounds suffered in combat.

And nice work CthulhuFnord. This is what I started this thread for.

 

[Hervé]

I currently use a converted version of the Elric system for my campaign, which is not far from MRQ.
Cthulhu monsters fit really well in the hyborian setting.
The Malleus Monstrorum from Chaosium is a complete collection of Mythos creatures. It has become my main ressource for cosmic horrors in my Conan campaign.

 

[Daithi O'an tSionnaigh]

I also think that is a nice start CthulhuFnord. I think Conan fits well with the Rune Quest system, like Slaine it is all about the chopping of body parts and watching them fly! Combat deadly and I agree with Ari and the smaller encounters. Dungeon Crawls just don't seem to work in RuneQuest as far as I see it. Maybe at higher levels but man I think RuneQuest combat is deadly, swift and unkind and I like that as do my players.

 

[weasel_fierce]

That brings up the question, will Slaine have anything in it thats of use to Conan ?

 

[CthulhuFnord]

That brings up the question, will Slaine have anything in it thats of use to Conan ?

I'm imagining so.

 

[Puck]

The Cult of Set

Great work CthulhuFnord. Seems to me things like these would be nice to have on the wiki for future reference. I love the idea of using the gift/geas from Elric. Always had a great time with gifts/geases since the early days with Humakt and Yemalio.

 

[TRose]

As foe healing you could introduce alchemy into the game, have a potion, or healing salve to help in the healing process.

Sounds like a good idea. All RPG need a way to quickly heal players and get back into the action. Most Modern games tend to fall apart when some body realizes his characters is going to spend the next 6 month in the hospital because a bullet in the gut is no fun.
Magic healing in Conan was not used in the books, but herbs that speed up the healing process would seem to be more in the spirit of the game.

 

[CthulhuFnord]

I'd be all for Alchemical or even Magic assisted healing. The Healing spells from CoC didn't seem to overpowered, all they did was speed up recovery time I think....

Looking through the spells in the Conan Rpg, it should not be too hard to find some Runquest conversions.... In fact here are a few.

Warding(basic counterspell) Sorcery: Spell Resistance
Awfull Rite of the Were-Beast, Sorcery: Shapechange Man to Were-
Gelid Bones, Sorcery: Diminish Strength
Visions, Sorcery: Sense Projection
Entrance(basic hypnotism) RuneM: Befuddle
Death Touch, RuneM: Hand of Death

 

[Magistus]

I am curious who has run a Hyboria based game using the current MRQ rules?

 

[Magistus]

Yeah I was looking through the Lankhmar rules and what they do is give the players 4 Hero Points as character creation to allow the players to survive a bit longer.

Now for something else, the following is the list of Cultural background in Lankhmar, would any agree they are all good for a Hyberia tpye game, or would they add or remove some?

Aristocrat
Barbarian(Cold Wastes)
Barbarian(Kleshite Jungle)
Freeman
Mariner
Nomad
Slave

 

[CthulhuFnord]

I am curious who has run a Hyboria based game using the current MRQ rules?

I'd like too, given I've been collecting MRQ books specificaly just for that.