As you can see in the last sentence in the section you quoted, I wasn't talking about the Picts during the Bran Mak Morn stories, only as they appeared during the times of Conan. Conan never sat down and discussed things with the Picts in any of the stories I read. Conan may have empathized with them about their territory being taken over, but he still fought them just as hard as the other colonists and referred to them as "devils".Faraer said:You're really underestimating REH there: while Picts are antagonists from the point of view of the Hyborians, and in the few Conan stories where they appear, overall Bob was very much in sympathy with the Picts and they're strong protagonists in the Bran Mak Morn stories.Darkspawn said:If it is like a standard REH story written in the (unfortunately) racist 1930's, then neither Picts nor Darfari are going to be ok as PCs. Unless the entire group is going to be one of those races. A campaign set on Picts trying to get "their" land back from the encroaching settlers would be interesting. Both of these races were pretty much "bad guys" by the time of Conan.
While I haven't read them, I have seen a recent series of books that are written about a small group of Picts trying to recover some magic item so they can try to fend off King Conan. That might make an interesting mini campaign with all the players as Picts.
I simply don't see other races trusting a Pict enough to form a lasting friendship with one.