Tons of Conan Adventures

I still don't consider myself a "comics" reader. I hadn't read a comic since I was in Jr. High School in the late 70's.

A friend turned me on to the Dark Horse Conan graphic novels, and that spread to the Savage Sword reprints. My extreme thrist for Conan tales got me to them.

So, now I subscribe to the Conan reprints. I read the Dark Horse stuff plus Savage Sword and the old Marvel reprints under the Chronicles of Conan banner. I just pre-ordered the Newspaper clips, and I'll probably get around to ordering the King Conan set coming out.

Yeah...Conan, baby. Conan.

It has struck me, though, that all these Conan tales, especially the original stories, are superb sources for your Conan RPG campaign.

What they basically are: They're adventure seeds! Yessir! You have a complete Conan tale. Tweak it as you may. The stories are "level-less", so you can adjust them to the needs of your players.

You see an NPC in the story, slap some stats on him. You see a location in the story, then make a map. You see a new weapon or magic item in the tale, then put some stats on it, and add it to your game.

Viola! You've got a Conan adventure, custom designed for your game.

So, now I feel doubley good about my Conan comic purchases. Not only am I enjoying the reads, but I also have an almost endless supply of Conan adventures for my campaign--stuff set all over world!

The story is done for you.

Just add water! (In the form of NPC and weapon/spell stats plus maps).
 
Supplement Four said:
The story is done for you.

Unless, like me, you have a player in your campaign that has read all the comics and still, after 10-15 years, remembers them better than you do.... :shock:

But yes, a lot of the comics are really good, and can be mined for ideas. My personal favorites are the ones written by Roy Thomas and illustrated by John Buscema.


Buscema20Sketches3.jpg


Ah... good stuff!

- thulsa
 
Cool! Yeah, my biggest problem with my RPG collection is shelf space. I'm constantly bing-purging through whatever books I've got and have been doing that since the early 90's. I'd been gaming since the 70's so that first purge was the big one and it's been a Darwinian existence for the residents in my collection ever since.

Now, my problem is my Conan RPG collection. It eats up a whole shelf along with the three new Howard collections and, worse, the full run of Savage Sword reprints. I can't get rid of any of it. Especially the Savage Sword reprints. Original Howard tales or not they are a great resource for ideas. Even the pastiche or original Marvel stuff isn't always bad, some of it is quite fantastic, and you can always pick and chose elements. Put a new spin on a plot element or NPC. Transpose settings and storylines. Always ways to mine that content in ways that will throw players familiar with the stories off the scent.

I consider those reprints as important to my Conan RPG collection as most of the sourcebooks I have if not moreso.
 
Here's some Conan Adventures I've found on the net. Not all of them are designed for the Conan RPG.

The Crawler In the Mists: http://www.rpgarchive.com/index.php?page=adv1&advid=720

The Curse of Sfanol: http://www.rpgarchive.com/pdf/the_curse_of_sfanol.pdf

The Snow-Haired Woman: http://www.rpgarchive.com/index.php?page=adv1&advid=740
 
OddjobXL said:
Cool! Yeah, my biggest problem with my RPG collection is shelf space. I'm constantly bing-purging through whatever books I've got and have been doing that since the early 90's. I'd been gaming since the 70's so that first purge was the big one and it's been a Darwinian existence for the residents in my collection ever since.

Now, my problem is my Conan RPG collection. It eats up a whole shelf along with the three new Howard collections and, worse, the full run of Savage Sword reprints. I can't get rid of any of it. Especially the Savage Sword reprints. Original Howard tales or not they are a great resource for ideas. Even the pastiche or original Marvel stuff isn't always bad, some of it is quite fantastic, and you can always pick and chose elements. Put a new spin on a plot element or NPC. Transpose settings and storylines. Always ways to mine that content in ways that will throw players familiar with the stories off the scent.

I consider those reprints as important to my Conan RPG collection as most of the sourcebooks I have if not moreso.

Damn straight. Even though the Howard adaptations were the best, and some of the stories got a little bit too comic-booky, the other ones are fine for drumming up some good game ideas.

Ive tried to read some of the regular Conan comics from Marvel and I just couldnt make myself care. Theyre too kid friendly and soft for my tastes.
 
Scorpion13 said:
Ive tried to read some of the regular Conan comics from Marvel and I just couldnt make myself care. Theyre too kid friendly and soft for my tastes.

I'm reading them, but you're right. Savage Sword and the new Dark Horse stuff are the best. The old Marvel does have some good game ideas in it, though.

I'm hoping the Marvel stuff gets better. Just peeking ahead, it looks like it does.
 
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