my Conan game & Sorcerer & Sword

S'mon

Mongoose
Posted some stuff about my Conan game, Conan RPG's use of Narrativism and Ron Edwards' Sorcerer & Sword here:

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?p=109966#109966

If anyone else found Sorcerer & Sword a usefu guide to getting the Conan feel right, I'd love to hear from you. :)
 
I had never heard of Sorceror and Sword, but I found your game session description inspiring. I would love to hear more, but I like your suggestions about Fate Points. I myself am somewhat hampered. The guys I play with are all involved in 2+ other games right now and have said they would play CONAN and see how it went. A couple have already talked about what to do with their characters after 1st level, so I know they are hooked. But until we find a regular time to play, etc., I am having trouble getting them into a narrative mode where they think beyond the current obstacle to adventure-specific goals. Nonetheless, I like your approach and will try to infuse some of that into the next session -- based on the description of the damsel in distress, the party Cimmerian is already talking about seducing her, for example. I may ask for a Charisma check and a Fate Point. :wink:
 
Yuan-Ti said:
I had never heard of Sorceror and Sword, but I found your game session description inspiring. I would love to hear more, but I like your suggestions about Fate Points. I myself am somewhat hampered. The guys I play with are all involved in 2+ other games right now and have said they would play CONAN and see how it went. A couple have already talked about what to do with their characters after 1st level, so I know they are hooked. But until we find a regular time to play, etc., I am having trouble getting them into a narrative mode where they think beyond the current obstacle to adventure-specific goals. Nonetheless, I like your approach and will try to infuse some of that into the next session -- based on the description of the damsel in distress, the party Cimmerian is already talking about seducing her, for example. I may ask for a Charisma check and a Fate Point. :wink:

Hi Yuan-Ti - re narrative approach, a point Edwards makes is that a gripping narrative comes not from a pre-scripted story or 'railroad', but rather from presenting the PCs & players with genuine choices about what they do next - eg do they free the prisoners and return them home, or ransom them back to their families, do they flee from or kill the pirates, or attempt to take control of them and become pirates themselves, do they trust the wizard or attack him, etc.
 
Something else I took from S&S is that the most important thing about a pulp fantasy hero is that they should be gripping, heroic, larger than life, "capable of generating a fanboy level of appreciation" - so a cool concept is much more important than the raw stats. The character needs to be interesting of themselves, not just for what they can do.

The GM should further this mystique by taking account of the protagonists' presumed competence in their areas of expertise when describing events - if Conan's player attacks the demon & rolls a '1', don't describe a clumsy half-arsed fumble - maybe the demon jumped back just as he swung, or closed within weapon-reach before he could strike, or knocked the blow aside with its inhuman strength.
 
Yuan-Ti said:
I like your approach and will try to infuse some of that into the next session -- based on the description of the damsel in distress, the party Cimmerian is already talking about seducing her, for example. I may ask for a Charisma check and a Fate Point. :wink:

If the Cimmerian has decent CHA I wouldn't require a fate point on this in addition to a CHA roll unless for some reason it was inherently unlikely the damsel would fall for him. FPs are usually for 'lucky breaks' - so having the high priestess of the temple he's been captured by fall for him would be a reasonable FP expenditure.
 
S'mon said:
Hi Yuan-Ti - re narrative approach, a point Edwards makes is that a gripping narrative comes not from a pre-scripted story or 'railroad', but rather from presenting the PCs & players with genuine choices about what they do next - eg do they free the prisoners and return them home, or ransom them back to their families, do they flee from or kill the pirates, or attempt to take control of them and become pirates themselves, do they trust the wizard or attack him, etc.

Those are very good points. S'mon, you're gonna make me buy that Sorcerer & Sword book if you keep this up! :lol:

It doesn't seem like any local game shops carry the print version though. I might have to invest in the PDF instead.

TTFN,

Yokiboy
 
Yokiboy said:
It doesn't seem like any local game shops carry the print version though. I might have to invest in the PDF instead.

Yokiboy

Look no further friend: http://www.hobbygames.se/

They got it. And they deliver free of shipement charge within 4 days.

/Wolf
 
GhostWolf69 said:
Look no further friend: http://www.hobbygames.se/

They got it. And they deliver free of shipement charge within 4 days.

/Wolf

Great Wolfie, thanks for the assist,

Yokiboy
 
S'mon said:
If the Cimmerian has decent CHA I wouldn't require a fate point on this in addition to a CHA roll unless for some reason it was inherently unlikely the damsel would fall for him. FPs are usually for 'lucky breaks' - so having the high priestess of the temple he's been captured by fall for him would be a reasonable FP expenditure.

I would agree except that I believe the Cimmerian has an 8 charisma. The only stat he kept that low... Yet he has this perception, I believe, that Conan was not charismatic and yet got lots of booty. :!: So I do not plan on making it quite as easy for him as he wants it to be to get every damsel he rescues.
 
Yuan-Ti said:
S'mon said:
If the Cimmerian has decent CHA I wouldn't require a fate point on this in addition to a CHA roll unless for some reason it was inherently unlikely the damsel would fall for him. FPs are usually for 'lucky breaks' - so having the high priestess of the temple he's been captured by fall for him would be a reasonable FP expenditure.

I would agree except that I believe the Cimmerian has an 8 charisma. The only stat he kept that low... Yet he has this perception, I believe, that Conan was not charismatic and yet got lots of booty. :!: So I do not plan on making it quite as easy for him as he wants it to be to get every damsel he rescues.

:twisted: One of my players has the exact same PC! Cimmerian, STR 20, CHA 8. No booty for him (at least not without FPs or a lot of luck!). 8)
I'd have put Conan's CHA in his early adventures at at least 12-14, he clearly had considerable force of personality even then; rising to 18-20+ at the pinnacle of his career. STR 18, not 20 - there are bigger and stronger men than Conan, but he combines considerable strength with speed, stamina, skill, an iron will and a great force of personality - a high stat array all round, not totally specialised on STR.
So far IMC I think CHA has been the single most important attribute, interpersonal relations are far more important in Conan than in a dungeon-hack game. Luckily 2 of the 4 PCs have good CHA, so they've done ok.
 
I tried clicking on your link. I states that it cannot be accessed at this time. What a tease..... :D

I have been looking at the Sorcerer stuff myself. I think it would be a great supplement to Conan. Have you looked at the Charnel Gods? It has Conan written all over it.
 
Yokiboy said:
Those are very good points. S'mon, you're gonna make me buy that Sorcerer & Sword book if you keep this up! :lol:

I found it fascinating reading -- it's almost essential to get the feel of a good swords and sorcery game. Very well-written, too. It's not specifically Conan-based, but Howard's Conan books, along with Lieber's Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser, are clearly big influences.
 
Ian Sturrock said:
I found it fascinating reading -- it's almost essential to get the feel of a good swords and sorcery game. Very well-written, too. It's not specifically Conan-based, but Howard's Conan books, along with Lieber's Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser, are clearly big influences.

Oh you just had to say that Ian, now I have to buy the book... :lol:

TTFN,

Yokiboy
 
Ian Sturrock said:
I found it fascinating reading -- it's almost essential to get the feel of a good swords and sorcery game. Very well-written, too. It's not specifically Conan-based, but Howard's Conan books, along with Lieber's Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser, are clearly big influences.

And you, Ian? Any word on a Lankhmar OGL book? :wink:
 
Ian Sturrock said:
Yuan-Ti said:
And you, Ian? Any word on a Lankhmar OGL book? :wink:

Hey, I'd love to write it, if you can find someone to publish it and sort out the licensing side of things...

Damn! There's always a catch, isn't there? :cry: Well, it's nice to know a talent like yourself is interested. Maybe it will get done and done well at some point.
 
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