The Temple of Yag-Kosha (adventure in Khitai)

[Yogah of Yag]

The premise sounds interesting at first, but as I recall that module had the PCs fighting robots and finding stuff like power armor that they could use. How much genre-crossing would your players settle for in Conan?

Exactly. The "temple" is the crashed spaceship that Yag used to come to Earth. You wouldn't describe to your players that the sensors above the corridor made the doors open automatically. You would whispher to them, with wide eyes, that the doors opened by themselves and magic must be afoot!

IIRC, I didn't fly to ancient earth in a ship. I had wings. Sadly I lost 'em shortly after arriving. *sniff*

The module EtBP has too much tech to make for a good Hyborian-type campaign. It was very wonky even for AD&D, IMHO. I think EGG and company wrote it to offer some SciFi content for those who liked Traveller and Star Frontiers.

 

[Malcadon]

The module EtBP has too much tech to make for a good Hyborian-type campaign. It was very wonky even for AD&D, IMHO. I think EGG and company wrote it to offer some SciFi content for those who liked Traveller and Star Frontiers.

Actually, it was an introduction (or testbed) for Metamorphosis Alpha (a precursor to the Gamma World game I noted above). It was based on the concept of a dungeon-crawl in space. MA was never meant to contend with hard sci-fi like Traveller or SF (by the way, both dame fine games), but was purely a science-fantasy (like A Princess of Mars or Flash Gordon).

If anything, DA3: City of the Gods would be a better fit then the EttBP. The land that surrounds the adventure has a middle-eastern feel to it, the futuristic city has that Green City feel to it, and the artifacts works more like magic items from D&D (just alter the descriptions to make the devices seem more alien - more so then how they already are - and downplay some of the more powerful items).

 

[Axerules]

As I said, arguable. Yes he does mention traveling faster than light, with WINGS. You of course ignore Almuric (where the protagonist traveled faster than light without a space ship and faced off against winged foes called "Yagas" in the land of "Yagg".) and assume he read the stories you mention. You ignore Lovecraft, who we KNOW he read.

And corresponded.

There is one actual mention of something that may be technology in the Conan stories by Howard and that is the fire wand from Red Nails. It shoots a focused beam of fire(laser) at target aslong as they have metal behind them to conduct the beam. It's a relic of the strange creators of the city and is just as likely to be magic as it is a piece of technology.

From the top of my head, there's -at least- one other example.

Rogues in the House

"Surely he sees us,” muttered Conan. “Why does he not charge us? He could break this window with ease.”

Murilo realized that Conan supposed the mirror to be a window through which they were looking.

“He does not see us,” answered the priest. “We are looking into the chamber above us. That door that Thak is guarding is the one at the head of these stairs. It is simply an arrangement of mirrors. Do you see those mirrors on the walls? They transmit the reflection of the room into these tubes, down which other mirrors carry it to reflect it at last on an enlarged scale in this great mirror.”

Murilo realized that the priest must be centuries ahead of his generation, to perfect such an invention; but Conan put it down to witchcraft and troubled his head no more about it.

IMHO "Weird science" fits well the setting, but there's nothing like spaceships in the Conan "canon". Now S4, if you want to give a different flavor to your games, as it was already said, go for it.

 

[Vortigern]

As I said, arguable. Yes he does mention traveling faster than light, with WINGS. You of course ignore Almuric (where the protagonist traveled faster than light without a space ship and faced off against winged foes called "Yagas" in the land of "Yagg".) and assume he read the stories you mention. You ignore Lovecraft, who we KNOW he read.

And corresponded.

There is one actual mention of something that may be technology in the Conan stories by Howard and that is the fire wand from Red Nails. It shoots a focused beam of fire(laser) at target aslong as they have metal behind them to conduct the beam. It's a relic of the strange creators of the city and is just as likely to be magic as it is a piece of technology.

From the top of my head, there's -at least- one other example.

Rogues in the House

"Surely he sees us,” muttered Conan. “Why does he not charge us? He could break this window with ease.”

Murilo realized that Conan supposed the mirror to be a window through which they were looking.

“He does not see us,” answered the priest. “We are looking into the chamber above us. That door that Thak is guarding is the one at the head of these stairs. It is simply an arrangement of mirrors. Do you see those mirrors on the walls? They transmit the reflection of the room into these tubes, down which other mirrors carry it to reflect it at last on an enlarged scale in this great mirror.”

Murilo realized that the priest must be centuries ahead of his generation, to perfect such an invention; but Conan put it down to witchcraft and troubled his head no more about it.

IMHO "Weird science" fits well the setting, but there's nothing like spaceships in the Conan "canon". Now S4, if you want to give a different flavor to your games, as it was already said, go for it.

Indeed, that very character had occured to me as well when thinking about this thread. There are also his indescructable crystal walls/containers and assorted other devious machines described in the house which make him quite clearly a 'scholar' in the d20 sense, of a non-sorcerous bent, but rather lethal besides. It would be interesting to see mongoose produce an expansion of the scholar into this area to cover such characters as that.

 

[Supplement Four]

IMHO "Weird science" fits well the setting, but there's nothing like spaceships in the Conan "canon". Now S4, if you want to give a different flavor to your games, as it was already said, go for it.

Personally, I don't like the whole space-ship-crashes idea, and I'm not fond of mixing high tech with my fantasy. In the PC game, Morrowind, for example, I loathed the Dwemer (dwarves) and their gnome-like mechanical technology.

But...I do read "The Tower of the Elephant" and the other rare references in Howard's Conan stories as "high tech" that looks like magic to the Hyborian Agers.

I was really turned off by TTotE the first time I read it because of that (though, I've grown to accept it). I'm not crazy about the "fire wand" in Red Nails either.

I don't like it...but that's the way I read it. I do think that Howard was experimenting mixing futuristic technology (and not magic) in these cited tales.

And, I'm not the only one who thinks that way. Oliver Stone, who co-wrote the movie, tried to include scenes that hinted at high technology taken as magic in the original film. Luckily for us, Milius decided against that "take" on Conan universe.

 

[Axerules]

But...I do read "The Tower of the Elephant" and the other rare references in Howard's Conan stories as "high tech" that looks like magic to the Hyborian Agers. I was really turned off by TTotE the first time I read it because of that (though, I've grown to accept it). I'm not crazy about the "fire wand" in Red Nails either.

Well, in case I wasn't clear (and IIRC) I don't think the space travel in TTotE had anything to do with technology.

(...) And, I'm not the only one who thinks that way. Oliver Stone, who co-wrote the movie, tried to include scenes that hinted at high technology taken as magic in the original film. Luckily for us, Milius decided against that "take" on Conan universe.

CtB is FAR from being faithful to REH's writings anyway. IMO it's a fine movie, but Milius' take is anything but "canon".
I have read that Oliver Stone's first version of the script included mutants and robot-like mechanical warriors... :lol:

 

[Hervé]

There has been some other sci fi references in pastiches, like in The Citadel at the Center of Time by Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Alfredo Alcala (In Savage Sword of Conan) for instance. However time travel seems to me more in the REH mood than spaceships.

 

[Caz]

I seem to recall a laser weapon in Red Nails.

 

[Strom]

Remember in Conan the Barbarian #1 from 1970, Conan sees a glimpse of the past with King Kull and his future as King from some shaman using a star stone and Conan even witnesses man conquering space and time and Barry Smith drew a spaceman tethered to a space ship? That was kinda jarring.

I don't remember a laser weapon in Red Nails..

 

[Hervé]

Tolkemec is indeed using some kind of fire wand to get his revenge...

 

[sgstyrsky]

And speaking of Lovecraft and sci-fi, I forgot one of his more sci-fi stories:

Herbert West: Reanimator

 

[UberDog]

I
I took it to mean the way an ancient-old-but-wise alien to earth spoke to the post-cataclysmic pre-historic Conan.

The same thing happened, in my mind's eye, when I read the adventure Book of the Elephant in S&P. The book is a gem with knowledge in it. I see it as a data storage crystal, probably with digital characters conforming to different languages, used by a highly advanced technological civilization (Yag and his peeps).

There's enough ambiguity there to read it both ways, I would think.

I left it open when I ran The Book of the Elephant with my group. Hope you liked it.

 

[Sir Hackalot]

Don't forget about the story set in Xuthal, a futuristic city that had machines that could create food and other mysterious high-tech devices. Unfortunately it was full of drug addicts.