Non-Hyborian Conan?

[Hordes o' Andrew]

One of the reasons I purchased the Conan RPG was to run adventures in my own S&S themed worlds. Whilst I love REH's Hyborian fiction I tend to use it as a tonally appropriate jumping off point for my own ideas rather than as a setting in its own right.

As a GM I'm a real magpie of ideas, so I'd be interested in hearing about alternative environments people have used when running the Conan system.

 

[Constantine XI]

This;
http://xoth.net/publishing/xp1/index.htm

Great S&S feel and flavour

N

 

[Hordes o' Andrew]

Nice. I'm looking through the preview and maps right now.

 

[PrinceYyrkoon]

The Wilderlands is one of my all time favourites, (Originally Judges Guild), you can still get the maps as pdfs, and in fact, the gazeteer, but the maps are the crowning glory. Theres some areas where you have to change names, particularly if you are British, (Ludgate, anyone?), but thats easily done. There are no countries marked and its ripe for a bit of personalisation. Ive used it many many times, for D&D, RQ, all sorts. It would be perfect for an alternative to the Hyborian Age too.

 

[Constantine XI]

There's also some really atmospheric material in the old Al Qadim boxed sets Ruined Kingdoms and Cities of Bone. Some of the adventures there have a really nice Clark Ashto Smith Zothique feel to them.[/i]

 

[Hordes o' Andrew]

The Wilderlands is one of my all time favourites, (Originally Judges Guild), you can still get the maps as pdfs, and in fact, the gazeteer, but the maps are the crowning glory. Theres some areas where you have to change names, particularly if you are British, (Ludgate, anyone?), but thats easily done. There are no countries marked and its ripe for a bit of personalisation. Ive used it many many times, for D&D, RQ, all sorts. It would be perfect for an alternative to the Hyborian Age too.

That's an excellent suggestion that I hadn't considered. Now that I think on it Wilderlands would be a great fit, especially when considering some of the more outre sci-fi and Lovecraftian elements that exist on its fringes. I've never interpreted it as being a magically rich world, so there's plenty of scope for Conanesque adventuring.

I also agree with your point regarding naming conventions. Being British myself it's always a little jarring to see supposedly fictional places cribbed from extant communities just up the road. In such instances I delve into further flung historical cultures for inspiration.

 

[Hordes o' Andrew]

There's also some really atmospheric material in the old Al Qadim boxed sets Ruined Kingdoms and Cities of Bone. Some of the adventures there have a really nice Clark Ashto Smith Zothique feel to them.[/i]

I never had the chance to peruse Al Qadim, and given Wizards current pdf policy it's unlikely that will be rectified. Shame really, the Ashton Smith influences sound intriguing.

Looking at my shelf I also see Caverns of Thracia. With a little work I think it'd make an excellent setting for a Conan adventure. I'd probably scale back the dungeon crawling aspects in favour of political skullduggery, which I think would work very well within the framework the scenario provides. A similar thought occurs regarding B4: The Lost City.

 

[PrinceYyrkoon]

The Wilderlands is one of my all time favourites, (Originally Judges Guild), you can still get the maps as pdfs, and in fact, the gazeteer, but the maps are the crowning glory. Theres some areas where you have to change names, particularly if you are British, (Ludgate, anyone?), but thats easily done. There are no countries marked and its ripe for a bit of personalisation. Ive used it many many times, for D&D, RQ, all sorts. It would be perfect for an alternative to the Hyborian Age too.

That's an excellent suggestion that I hadn't considered. Now that I think on it Wilderlands would be a great fit, especially when considering some of the more outre sci-fi and Lovecraftian elements that exist on its fringes. I've never interpreted it as being a magically rich world, so there's plenty of scope for Conanesque adventuring.

I also agree with your point regarding naming conventions. Being British myself it's always a little jarring to see supposedly fictional places cribbed from extant communities just up the road. In such instances I delve into further flung historical cultures for inspiration.

I think it works pretty good because there are small spots of civilization in an expanse of wilderness. Huge amounts of room to put anything you like in. As far as names are concerned, the best maps with the most careful naming is probably Altanis or Map 1. Theres a map which just repeats names from Elrics Young Kingdoms setting, which is a bit lazy. Easily changed though. I scanned my maps, put them in paint and changed the names pretty easily.

I think you have a similar idea to this

http://hyboria.xoth.net/adventures/index.htm

when you use old D&D materials and convert. These are quite high level though. Classic D&D adventures are pretty good for source material, as Gygax was obviously a Conan fan. Ive borrowed from Hidden Shrine of Tamouchan pretty successfully.

 

[Azgulor]

I use the Conan system in the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting and I'm kicking around the idea of a campaign in either the Scarred Lands or the Diamond Throne.

Since those are all D&D settings, I wanted a middle ground between 3.x high fantasy & Conan's more limited sorcery. I replaced the Conan sorcery system with the spellcasting system from Green Ronin's Thieves' World books coupled with judicious pruning of more wahoo-level spells. I added Parry & Dodge progressions to the TW spellcasting classes and haven't looked back!

 

[PrinceYyrkoon]

Yup. Scarred Lands Ghelspad would work.

 

[Hordes o' Andrew]

I think you have a similar idea to this

http://hyboria.xoth.net/adventures/index.htm

when you use old D&D materials and convert. These are quite high level though. Classic D&D adventures are pretty good for source material, as Gygax was obviously a Conan fan. Ive borrowed from Hidden Shrine of Tamouchan pretty successfully.

Thanks for the link.

After further consideration I think most early D&D adventures are applicable, at least from a structural perspective. I've never been too enamored of magically replete settings, so its a fortunate coincidence that TSR's output during the late 70s and 80s downplayed that aspect.

 

[Diabolus]

Also a BIG fan of the Wilderlands. I ran a play by post game using the Wilderlands w/ Conan RPG rules for over a year and it was very fitting (and fun).

My next campaign is a return to that setting and rules. I'm adapting Trial of Blood as well as some of Thulsa's adventures for the Wilderlands as well. I may also use bits from Necromancer Game's Coils of Set adventure.

The campaign was centered in the town of Zothay in Barbarian Altanis with intrigue from the Skandik's who claim the town, the Orcs that threaten the frontier, the local lizardman problem and the warring factions (City State and Tarantis) that would like the port to be theirs.

 

[PrinceYyrkoon]

Also a BIG fan of the Wilderlands. I ran a play by post game using the Wilderlands w/ Conan RPG rules for over a year and it was very fitting (and fun).

My next campaign is a return to that setting and rules. I'm adapting Trial of Blood as well as some of Thulsa's adventures for the Wilderlands as well. I may also use bits from Necromancer Game's Coils of Set adventure.

The campaign was centered in the town of Zothay in Barbarian Altanis with intrigue from the Skandik's who claim the town, the Orcs that threaten the frontier, the local lizardman problem and the warring factions (City State and Tarantis) that would like the port to be theirs.

Yes, Barbarian Altanis has some very Hyborian Age-like names. Ive used that map without any changes for campaigns. Nice geography, theres swamps, cold mountain tops, and jungle.

 

[Diabolus]

I ran the Black Stones module out of Zothay with the Mountains of the Erad Perek and an Altanian village but substituted a Cthuloid black spawn for the stones. It had my characters freaking out.

 

[Hervé]

This might be worth a look:
http://d101games.co.uk/books/openquest/the-savage-north/

 

[PrinceYyrkoon]

This might be worth a look:
http://d101games.co.uk/books/openquest/the-savage-north/

You'd have to be British to get that both Newcastle and Sonderland are unacceptable as fantasy locations, Herv!

 

[tarkhan bey]

That looks pretty good Herve. Not terribly original but i love all the faux Hyborian cliches.It appears to be MRQ Conan in all but name(which is a good thing). 8)
Ps I have just taken a closer look at the map and would agree that naming places on the map as Newcastle and Sonderland are a bit hmmm!

 

[Spongly]

Wow. It appears I actually live in "The Savage North". Friends who moved down south have been trying to tell me that for years. I wonder if this is some sort of bizarre joke, or an equally bizarre coincidence?

 

[PrinceYyrkoon]

Wow. It appears I actually live in "The Savage North". Friends who moved down south have been trying to tell me that for years. I wonder if this is some sort of bizarre joke, or an equally bizarre coincidence?

Well, if there was a King Shearer, we would know for sure!

 

[PrinceYyrkoon]

'Noddersfield' indeed!

There is a definite art to naming fantasy locations. Ive very rarely seen a published map where I can accept every name on it.