Here’s a quick personal review.
The book is hardback, B&W, 115 pages for $29.95. A bit expansive, but that’s Conan…
The cover is nice and the overall quality of the book has greatly improved since 2nd Ed and RttRoK. It seems that Mongoose finally managed to master their printing facility. The binding looks fine, the cover does not bend, the printing is less dark and grey shadings are well used.
The book is organized as follows:
-Background and Personalities (15 pages)
Lots of “background” tables to determine your character past. Fun, but you can live without them…
-Character Variants (8 pages).
Ok, why not. I’m not sure to see many male Amazon players, though… At the end of the chapter, there’s the list of all race/class variants from the earlier supplements.
-Character Packages (21 pages)
A very long but quite hollow chapter detailing character trappings by race and class. Information on clothing can prove colourful but the package lists are really boring.
-The Trading Post (5 pages)
A description of hyborian musical instruments along with a couple of new weapons.
-Unusual Items (5 pages)
Some new “magical items” in the Conan way.
-Feats (12 pages)
I guess there’s no OGL books without them. Completely lame to me. Moreover, most of them are reprints from RoK. The best thing in this chapter is the complete list of feats from all older books.
-Naming Charts (12 pages)
Lists of names by nations. A nice gaming aid for any hyborian campaign.
-Noble Titles (8 pages)
A description of noble titles and ranks, by nation. I found this part pretty nice to flesh out hyborian nobility. I resented the absence of the Turanians (although Hyrkanian nobility is described). I’ve always felt that Turan had been a bit overlooked in the game…
-Tips on Roleplaying in the Hyborian Age (2 pages)
Rantings on roleplaying by Vincent. You want to read them…
-The Reins of Power (4 pages)
Tips on what to do with your character once he’s big and mean. No “Epic Level” rules though. Probably a summary of what we could expect from Hyborian Empires (another planned book that was never released).
-Sorcerers Great & Small (10 pages)
New spells and magic. Again quite unavoidable in a D20 book. The compiled spell list is quite a handy tool.
-Hyborean Age Voices (8 pages)
A compilation of « interviews » of people from various cultures. Quite stereotypical (I guess that’s the goal, anyways…) but fun to read.
-Index (2 pages)
Well, it’s all in the name…
The book contains mostly new material (with of the exception of feats and of compiled lists) and can be considered as such as the “real” first 2nd supplement.
Although the book can prove useful, I found it desperately lacking of depth. The PGH looks more like a compilation of S&P articles than a real supplement, most of them being even less useful than those reprinted in the Conan Compendium. The contents are a bit hollow for the steep thirty bucks price. Maybe thirty more pages or a lesser price (with a softcover) would have made it easier to swallow…
The book is hardback, B&W, 115 pages for $29.95. A bit expansive, but that’s Conan…
The cover is nice and the overall quality of the book has greatly improved since 2nd Ed and RttRoK. It seems that Mongoose finally managed to master their printing facility. The binding looks fine, the cover does not bend, the printing is less dark and grey shadings are well used.
The book is organized as follows:
-Background and Personalities (15 pages)
Lots of “background” tables to determine your character past. Fun, but you can live without them…
-Character Variants (8 pages).
Ok, why not. I’m not sure to see many male Amazon players, though… At the end of the chapter, there’s the list of all race/class variants from the earlier supplements.
-Character Packages (21 pages)
A very long but quite hollow chapter detailing character trappings by race and class. Information on clothing can prove colourful but the package lists are really boring.
-The Trading Post (5 pages)
A description of hyborian musical instruments along with a couple of new weapons.
-Unusual Items (5 pages)
Some new “magical items” in the Conan way.
-Feats (12 pages)
I guess there’s no OGL books without them. Completely lame to me. Moreover, most of them are reprints from RoK. The best thing in this chapter is the complete list of feats from all older books.
-Naming Charts (12 pages)
Lists of names by nations. A nice gaming aid for any hyborian campaign.
-Noble Titles (8 pages)
A description of noble titles and ranks, by nation. I found this part pretty nice to flesh out hyborian nobility. I resented the absence of the Turanians (although Hyrkanian nobility is described). I’ve always felt that Turan had been a bit overlooked in the game…
-Tips on Roleplaying in the Hyborian Age (2 pages)
Rantings on roleplaying by Vincent. You want to read them…
-The Reins of Power (4 pages)
Tips on what to do with your character once he’s big and mean. No “Epic Level” rules though. Probably a summary of what we could expect from Hyborian Empires (another planned book that was never released).
-Sorcerers Great & Small (10 pages)
New spells and magic. Again quite unavoidable in a D20 book. The compiled spell list is quite a handy tool.
-Hyborean Age Voices (8 pages)
A compilation of « interviews » of people from various cultures. Quite stereotypical (I guess that’s the goal, anyways…) but fun to read.
-Index (2 pages)
Well, it’s all in the name…
The book contains mostly new material (with of the exception of feats and of compiled lists) and can be considered as such as the “real” first 2nd supplement.
Although the book can prove useful, I found it desperately lacking of depth. The PGH looks more like a compilation of S&P articles than a real supplement, most of them being even less useful than those reprinted in the Conan Compendium. The contents are a bit hollow for the steep thirty bucks price. Maybe thirty more pages or a lesser price (with a softcover) would have made it easier to swallow…