Using what you've got. That's what the Cimmerians do.

[Supplement Four]

I'm not looking to go full bore into Conan (I like the back ground, but I want to keep the spending to a bare min.) I am just looking for enough info to make a game interesting.

I'd go with getting the Beastiary, then, so that you'll have some good baddies that your players have never seen, appropriate to the genre, to populate your campaign.

The rest, you can wait on. And, don't forget that there's plenty of good stuff for free in S&P.

 

[Spectator]

ACtually I'm not sure getting the bestiary is necessary. The 1st Ed has enough of a bestiary to make it self sufficient. Remember that Conan's biggest and baddest opponents were usually other humans and mid level demons (The Black Fiend). Realistically you don't need much more than what you have with Core 1st Ed. and Skrolls of Skelos (which has an indespensible magic section and a great bestiary). I used those both for 3+ years without any other supplements. I tend to dislike the supplements since they tend to restrict imagination.

 

[rabindranath72]

ACtually I'm not sure getting the bestiary is necessary. The 1st Ed has enough of a bestiary to make it self sufficient. Remember that Conan's biggest and baddest opponents were usually other humans and mid level demons (The Black Fiend). Realistically you don't need much more than what you have with Core 1st Ed. and Skrolls of Skelos (which has an indespensible magic section and a great bestiary). I used those both for 3+ years without any other supplements. I tend to dislike the supplements since they tend to restrict imagination.

+1
Never owned the bestiary, it seems very unnecessary. Atlantean Edition + Scrolls of Skelos has been sufficient for me.

 

[Supplement Four]

This is a quick, simple outline of the first story (adventure) played out in my campaign: Cimmerian Blood.



CIMMERIAN BLOOD
The story of how the player characters became men.


1. First scene begins with the PCs, only 11 years old, wading around, knee-deep in mud and dirty water, bog-mining for pellets of ore that has washed down the mountian near their clanholme, Seven Stones Ridge.

They are Cimmerians, a barbaric people, scratching out their lives in the foothills of the Eiglophian Mountains, north-central Cimmeria. The bog ore is for the clan's chief, a barrel-chested, gruff and bearded, burly mass of a man known as Finn Elder. He is a master smith, primary of the Duncohr family forge. Duncohr steel is known throughout the region as superior to that of any other clan, and though the Blue Fox Clan is a fraction of the size of the major Cimmerian clans, the fruit of Finn's anvil is the primary reason for the influence of the PCs' people.

There is a sense of excitement among the PCs, for on the morrow, the annual three-day festival to welcome summer begins (warm weather is quite welcome to Cimmerians, especially those who live at the base of a mountain). And, every year, those who have seen their twelfth Beltain are allowed to run in the Ras Croi--the "Race of the Heart". Those that finish the Ras Croi launch themselves onto a three-year road of warrior training.

Tomorrow, the PCs will take the first step on the path Urrough children take to become men.



2. All, except infants and invalids, work to support the clan. But, this day, the PCs' labor in the bog is cut short by the appearance of One-Armed Olaf's wagon, high above near the waterfall that feeds the bog on the trail at the cliff's edge. Olaf is not Cimmerian and not a clansman. He's an Aesir trader that sometimes brings Old Finn quality ore from the mines in Nordheim on the other side of the mountain. This day, though, the PCs will know that his cart is not loaded with rock. When Olaf appears for the Beltain, he always brings entertainment that is, more times than not, the highlight of the festival. Last year, he brought a young bear and three wolves, all half starved, that would put into the pig's pen together. They tore each other apart, and there was much betting and drinking and cheering among the clansmen.

The PCs run to greet Olaf at his approach in the village. But, they are denied a peek into the one-armed man's covered wagon. What Olaf brings this year, is a secret.

Later that night, the PCs, children that they still are, can't sleep in anticipation of the next day: Olaf, the Ras Croi, festival! They creep from their hut and stealth their way to the wagon. But, they cannot get close. Just outside of it, they see Olaf, in argument with Finn Elder and his brother, Ean. The two Cimmerians are quite upset with the Aesirman. Certainly, the PCs do not want that wrath also brought to bear agains them, so they stealth back to their beds. But, as they return, they see Olaf and his wagon depart, right then in the middle of the night.



3. The next day...



NOTE: I've got to go right now, but I will add more to, and finish up, this outline a bit later. If you're interested in seeing how the story played out (in very broad strokes, of course), tune back in after I've had time to add more.

 

[Supplement Four]

Cimmeria Is A Big Place


That's the way I see it. Cimmeria is a big place. I believe that we sometimes think of the Cimmerian culture and the region's people with a myopic point of view. Within Cimmeria as a microcosm, there are going to be more advanced clans and those with less technological progress. There are going to be those that are closer to savagery and barbarism and those that are closer to being described as "almost civilized". Some clans are nomadic, wintering in one of a few choice spots, then moving north during the summer months. Others are not nomadic, living in wood and stone villages, as seen in both the '82 and 2012 Conan movies.

Just like other peoples and eras of history, the various peoples of Cimmeria fight amongst themselves and have different micro-cultures even though they share common cultural traits. A real world example are the American Indians. They they share some common overall cultural traits (they are Indians, after all), but the Cherokee are a vastly different tribe of people when compared to the Apache. There are the nomadic American plains indians, and then again, there are the Pueblo indians making structures in the side of a mountain.

I view the Cimmerians as no different than that--that there can be vast differences between the clans.

 

[Supplement Four]

The PCs Are The First Generation...



For story reasons, I established in my campaign (call it My Hyborian Age) that, centuries ago, a smith emerged among the Grath clan--a clan of Cimmerians that live along the Diamondrun river that runs down the side of the Eiglophians. This is "game history". The Grath's existence depended on the river. They are fishermen, mostly, but someone finally figures out (maybe he is shown by a traveller or trader) how to make a living and support the clan by panning in the river.

It's not weapons they make. This ore is much like bog-ore. But, they learn to make metal instruments.

Who knows how long this goes on for, but at some points, maybe generations later, Aesir traders from the north side of the Eiglophians appear with a small amount of quality ore. The Aesir are miners, and some bright yellow-hair finally thought to see if they could expand their market. So, with a small store of ore in a wagon, they ventured south into the lands of the Cimmerians, comming upon the Grath.

There, a deal was made. Two villages depend on each other, one Aesir, and one Cimmerian.

I won't bore you with the details, but trouble errupted among the Grath clan, and that smith (years later) did the unthinkable and left the clan. He traveled south, just outside of the territory claimed by the Grath, and set up a homestead with his forge. The Aesir traders, appearing every year or so, followed the smith. Quickly, a new clan formed around the smith--and this becomes the players' clan: The clan of the Blue Fox, or Urrough, as it is said in native Cimmerian.

Of course, the Grath didn't just let the smith go easily and start a rival clan. No, there was a civil war, of sorts. A blood feud that goes on to this day. The major war between the two clans halted when the call went out to unite against the Aquilonians at Venarium. Both the Grath and the Foxmen sent warriors. And, after their return, the hostility returned but not to the level it was before Venarium.

To this day, the Grath and the Blue Fox are major enemies.

The players in my campaign are playing characters that are the sons of the son of the smith that moved south and started the new clan. That smith, Old Fionn, is advanced in age, now. His son is chief, Finn Elder, and also now a master smith. Finn Elder's sons (and the sons of his brothers) are the player characters.

I tried to created a rich, deep, believable, but interesting history from which to draw my campaign. The player characters are special in the sense that they are the first Foxmen to be born Foxmen. All others before them were Grath that followed Old Fionn south. The PCs are the first generation of this new Cimmerian clan.

 

[Spectator]

There is no such thing as bog ore. the bog bacteria make it into bog iron. you actually will find iron in the bog that you can start working with on an anvil.

 

[Supplement Four]

There is no such thing as bog ore. the bog bacteria make it into bog iron. you actually will find iron in the bog that you can start working with on an anvil.

It's pellets. I've read about it a bit. That was probably a poor choice of words on my part. I didn't think too much about the process. I know that it's very low quality, though. Brittle.

 

[Spectator]

All iron is very brittle.
That's why steel was invented, so it could flex and spring.
Iron fire pokers will snap.
Steel pokers will bend.

Bog iron is truly bad-ass it wont rust! If it rusted it would never be pelletized.

 

[Supplement Four]

I think this is where I read what I thought I read, but....you're right. It seems that high quality can be made from bog iron. It depends on the bog and the impurities in that particular bog. It also seems that it is an inefficient process with a lot of the good stuff left in the slag.

http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/bog_iron.htm