Is CONAN the best d20 option for WarhammerFantasy Roleplay?

[Yuan-Ti]

Just was thinking about this, since I have always liked the flavor of the Warhammer setting, but most people have no interest in a full-fledged campaign using the WHFRP rules. The grittiness of the CONAN setting, however, keeps reminding me of some aspects of Warhammer. And, to be honest, I think it is clear that Warhammer borrowed heavily from Howardesque pulp, as well as the Cthulhu mythos.

Anyway, I thought this would be an entertaining discussion to have. Would the CONAN rules allow for a d20 Warhammer campaign? Personally, I think the sorcery system, combat, and some of the classes are as close as any d20 game has come so far.

 

[Yokiboy]

I think Conan the RPG would work well as the ruleset behind a WFRP campaign, but I actually like the original rules too.

TTFN,

Yokiboy

 

[Rikki-Tikki-Tavi]

I had to burn you for brining GW to this page. Granted, I play WHFB and when I think about the magic in WH it seems like a good fit. Maybe a little fleshing out to get some of the spells right, but good none the less.

I still had to burn you though. Why? Well, you're a snake and I'm a mongoose.

 

[Yuan-Ti]

I still had to burn you though. Why? Well, you're a snake and I'm a mongoose.

:lol:

Snake-man, to be precise. :wink:

 

[bampf]

I d have to say base d20 is much better suited for WHRP (I have played WHFRP... and it s an awful system and I am a long time WHFB and WH40k mini gamer). The Warhammer setting is way too fantasy entrenched to make it an easy port to Conan.

Fantastical creatures, uber magical weapons, diverse races (elves, beastmen, dwarves, skaven)... they re all more suited to a standard D&D d20 campaign if you ask me.

Maintaining the realistic grittiness along with high fantasy elements certainly isn t impossible, but it wouldn t be easy!

PS... Games Workshop burrows heavily from EVERYBODY!! Their Fantasy and 40k lines are an amalgam of strong elements of nearly every popular Sci-Fi and Fantasy writer... maybe that s why the games have such a strong appeal and following.

 

[GhostWolf69]

May you rot in hell you heathen!!! :twisted:

Honestly... I don't think Conan would be any good for WFRP for several reasons. One of them being the tech-level in WFRP being much higher than in Conan. Sure you can add Blunderbusses and Muskets to the list but Steam-tanks?... :shock: Beside that weapons, armour and siege-equipment in general is much much more advanced in WFRP. Magic is NOT the same, so you'd have to remake the magic styles from scratch... you'd have to introduce the old fantasy races again, and make them balanced towards humans... and what about the humans? Will you keep the different subraces? or scrap them and go back to just One human race?.... NO I say... WAY to much work, for very little pay off.

"Yeah I have an idea, let's use this game to play another game! Yeah, that'll be fun, yeah! Of course I have to remake this game entirely so that it becomes the other game but that doesn't matter..."

You get the idea.

As far as atmosphere is concerned though, Conan is pretty close. They both have the same Chutulh-oid feel to them, evil cult summoning demons to gain power/destroy the world. So I can relate to the question per se.

/wolf

 

[Lane Shutt]

If you want a D20 system to play in the Warhammer world I think that OGL Ancients may be the way to go.

While I have not fully digested the book it does have promise. The combat system is more complicated than standard D20, using passive, active and shield defense vs an attack roll. Armor provides a degree of coverage, damage reduction, damage absorption and condition so a weapon will beat up your armor before you take damage assuming the attack strikes an armored location. Magic is skill based rather than a fixed number per day with divine spells becoming more difficult after the first and other spells draining hit points. There is even a section for building machines like the steam tank.

 

[lumpensammler]

Hi

I do not like the D20 System. It is a piece of junk!
I played it for two, nearly three years and there was no fun. If anyone insists in playing warhammer with d20 rules, he would be mad. I do not know the Conan Rules - but anyway...
why using another system, when the original is good?

Furthermore, d20 is only hack 'n slay (you see it in published adventures - only fights with biger, bigger enemies)... The fighter can only fight, the magician can only speak and cast spells etc...
With wfrp you have the chance to do more... I like more the skill system of wfrp than d20, because there is more covered (and easier).

I remember some horrific scenario with 4 PCs and 8 NPCs (two of them were WIZ). How fast can a DM manage the fighting? And how boring is it for the players... With wfrp it is much faster... So, why changing system???

If Mongoose wants to distribute Warhammer then I hope it is with original (maybe litte changed) rules...


Any comments about these heretic opinions?

 

[GhostWolf69]

Any comments about these heretic opinions?

Nope, this is a good fire starter if ever I saw one! :lol:

I got my popcorn right here.... this will be fun!

/wolf

 

[Hyena]

Hey you under the bridge ! Don't take Ghotswolf's popcorn, it's bad for your health ya hear me !

Ghostwolf, you can watch all you want but don't you feed popcorn to the Troll ! It's gonna make him sick. I warn ya: if he gets diarreha, you get to clean his mess !

 

[GhostWolf69]

Hey you under the bridge ! Don't take Ghotswolf's popcorn, it's bad for your health ya hear me !

Ghostwolf, you can watch all you want but don't you feed popcorn to the Troll ! It's gonna make him sick. I warn ya: if he gets diarreha, you get to clean his mess !

Man, and I always thought it was the Troll way of eating things to barf all over it first, to start the digestion externally so to speak, you know... like th eflies... and all the time it was the popcorn???

WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THIS SOONER!?!

On a more serious note, I agree with the Troll that WFRP should be played with WFRP... so far so good. The Flamage is the rest of his post.

...hmmm... flame, fire -> TROLL.... bad for his regeneration I'd say!

/wolf

 

[Hyena]

Since we're talking seriously, I'd go on record to say I hate WHFRP system as much as I love its setting, and that's saying a lot. I agree Conan's take on d20 would be a good start for a new WHFRP system, but it would take as much work to port Conan to the WHFRP universe as it would take to write a brand new system. People not wanting to spend years designing a new Warhammer RPG before playing it should stick with the current system, IMO

 

[GhostWolf69]

I hate WHFRP system

:shock:

... just... but...

:shock:

...I... no...

:shock:

/wolf

 

[Hyena]

What can I say, we all have our failings... If it makes you feel better, I'll pretend it's because those nasty LARP people kidnapped me when I was a cub and brain-washed me.

 

[GhostWolf69]

What can I say, we all have our failings... If it makes you feel better, I'll pretend it's becauce those nasty LARP people kidnapped me when I was a cub and brain-washed me.

:lol: LOL :lol:

*mumbles* Goddamn Aliens! *spits*

I never said WFRP was a great system, but it works... and "hate" is a pretty strong word. That's all.

/wolf

 

[Yokiboy]

Since we're talking seriously, I'd go on record to say I hate WHFRP system as much as I love its setting, and that's saying a lot. I agree Conan's take on d20 would be a good start for a new WHFRP system, but it would take as much work to port Conan to the WHFRP universe as it would take to write a brand new system. People not wanting to spend years designing a new Warhammer RPG before playing it should stick with the current system, IMO

I don't see it as being all that bad, could probably get a good system together over a weekend, depending on the beer intake.

Seriously, the Conan classes and combat system would work great for WFRP. Then add some D&D beasties and you're all set. There's some great d20 adaptions of WFRP out there already, and if you just add the Conan specifics into the mix you've got a winner IMO.

TTFN,

Yokiboy

 

[Hyena]

Well, I used the word 'hate' to emphasis the OPINION aspect of it. Can't give much details since it's been more than ten years since it tried it, but it surely rubbed me the wrong way. Not as much as Rolemaster did, but still.

 

[GhostWolf69]

Well, I used the word 'hate' to emphasis the OPINION aspect of it. Can't give much details since it's been more than ten years since it tried it, but it surely rubbed me the wrong way. Not as much as Rolemaster did, but still.

Roger that!

/wolf

 

[bampf]

I m with you, Hyena. I love the WH setting and play nearly all the GW games but hated WHFRP. Played it for about four months. The professions concept was cool, but everything else about the system was awful, I thought. The concept of any kind of game balance was completely absent.

 

[Mayhem]

Anyone who thinks that WFRP is high fantasy a la D&D and not nasty realism a la Conan has been playing the wargame, not the RPG.

The ability in WFRP for a long standing character to be killed by a bunch of unskilled bandits is a lot closer to Conan than it is to D&D.

However, if WFRP were to be D20-fied, I'd much prefer to use the D20 Modern rules, and port the WFRP careers directly into D20 Modern "occupations".

***

That said, I'd prefer to spend the time bringing the WFRP system up to date, rather than modify D20.

Not everything has to use D20, after all, and the WFRP system is a lot more suited to the WFRP atmosphere than D20 will ever be. It just needs to be pulled kicking and screaming into the 21st century - after all, D20 is a vast improvement over its AD&D roots.