What was your introduction to Conan?

[Gralhruk]

My introduction was through the Ace paperbacks that DeCamp and Carter edited, having first read them 20 years ago. Howard's vivid descriptions stuck in my mind, and having recently read "The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian", I have to say that REH is a must-read for anyone interested in fantasy.

As others have mentioned, Frazetta's artwork is an introduction all by itself. I, too, am impressed with the cover of Conan the Adventurer to this day. His work truly captures the mood of Howard's writing perfectly.

 

[zero skill LPB]

This is the cover art that sucked me in:

http://www.allposters.com/gallery.asp?aid=785330&item=328622

And I tore through all the companion paperbacks that were available at the time. I remember going to see CtB in the theater some years later, still a fair bit before high school, and thinking life couldn't be any better.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm having trouble remembering whether my first Conan experience was the first in the Howard/DeCamp/Carter paperback series, or whether it was a pastiche titled "The Sword of Skelos" (by whom I don't know). Either way, I swiftly got the whole paperback series after that.

 

[Lee Scolin]

The Arnie movies I'm afraid. I've never actually read any of the Conan stories, although I certainly intend to read as much of them as I can before actually running a game.

 

[Yokiboy]

I haven't played with all that many groups; is it common for gamers to play music in the background? I have played movie soundtracks in the background since I started playing 22 years ago.

Certainly do, I make my own compilation discs, and some of them are dreaded by my players. "Oh no, Strahds coming!" is a common comment when I start one of the CDs. It is great when you can set the mood and the expectations of the players by just changing the soundtrack.

TTFN,

Yokiboy

 

[Ordovician]

My first exposure was via the Marvel series. In fact, I remember my first issue - it was the one with Ishiti, the cover was her in the background rearing over a scaly Conan. Then "Tower of the Elephant".

 

[LWM]

The first Conan stoty that I ever read was "The Thing in the Crypt," the first story in the Ace paperback Conan. I was more than a bit surprised when I recently reread the Ace Conan stories to learn that "The Thing in the Crypt" wasn't written by Howard after all, but rather by Carter and de Camp instead. D'oh!

 

[VincentDarlage]

My first exposure was via the Marvel series. In fact, I remember my first issue - it was the one with Ishiti, the cover was her in the background rearing over a scaly Conan. Then "Tower of the Elephant".

Oh! That was a good issue. I ran several DnD adventures based on that one, and I made Ishiti into a demon princess back in the days of AD&D (1st ed, as it is called now) way back when...

That was Conan the Barbarian #139, "In the Lair of the Damned" by Bruce Jones, October 1982. I may have to run a Conan game based on that one.

The first Conan comic I ever bought was Conan the Barbarian #152, "The Dark Blade of Jergal Zadh", from November 1983, by Michael Fleischer. The demon Jergal Zadh also made appearances in my early AD&D games.

 

[Orkin]

I was in a medieval reenactment group in the 70's and somebody handed me one of the Lancer paperbacks... :lol:

I'm still interested in the practical aspect, of finding out what really works, and what it was really like.

 

[GM_In_Pain]

I think my intro to Conan was the first movie. I enjoyed it very much. The second one, not so much (although it had its moments). I do remember reading one or two Conan novels, though neither were written by REH.

 

[Murgoot]

My first intro was a friends back issues of Savage Sword of Conan in 1982

 

[Fearguis]

My first introduction to Conan was a 4 piece boxed set of some Robert Jordan books, god forbid. The set was about $1 or so, in a bargain bin at Kmart. I was 11, I think, and my mother asked my father if he thought Conan might be a little rough for a boy my age (after looking at the plump bare-assed women on the covers) My father, to his credit, said it should be fine. Hmmm. Thanks, dad.

That was twenty-something years ago, and I still remember it vividly. After I read those books, I bought just about every Conan book and comic I could find. I've been a collector ever since. (And I just went and looked at that old 4-book set, just for old times' sake. It's still in near-mint condition)

 

[Anonymous]

Tsk, Tsk....
You're right! I didn't think about poster or cover art as an introduction. The first story I read ("The People of the Black Circle") was in Conan the Adventurer, and the cover art of that one is still, to this day, the definitive vision of Conan that I have. Conan, all ugly and gruesome, standing on a pile of corpses with a girl at his feet and a sword in his hand, with skulls in the background. That is SUCH an impressive image to me, not only when I was 13, but still today.

That was the same book I started out with! I was 10 years old at Walgreens, and they had several of the Ace Conan books in stock. I picked Conan the Adventurer because the cover ruled. That cover is THE definitive portrait of Conan. However, I must add that when I saw Frazetta art pior to that, I didn't associate it with Conan, so I wouldn't really consider Frazetta to be my intro to Conan.

 

[Arcadayn]

Tsk, Tsk....
You're right! I didn't think about poster or cover art as an introduction. The first story I read ("The People of the Black Circle") was in Conan the Adventurer, and the cover art of that one is still, to this day, the definitive vision of Conan that I have. Conan, all ugly and gruesome, standing on a pile of corpses with a girl at his feet and a sword in his hand, with skulls in the background. That is SUCH an impressive image to me, not only when I was 13, but still today.

That was the same book I started out with! I was 10 years old at Walgreens, and they had several of the Ace Conan books in stock. I picked Conan the Adventurer because the cover ruled. That cover is THE definitive portrait of Conan. However, I must add that when I saw Frazetta art pior to that, I didn't associate it with Conan, so I wouldn't really consider Frazetta to be my intro to Conan.

Sorry, I forgot to log in before I made the previous post :?

 

[KiltieMacBagpipes]

My intro was the movies, then some of the Jordan novels. I haven't read any of Howard's books, but i assure you they're on my list of things to do.

 

[Old Bear]

Mine was my dad's copy of Conan the Wanderer (I think it was either released through Sphere or Ace). Can't remember which particular stories it contained but the one that stood out was the story of the ghouls of Yanaider. What with Olgerd Vladislav and Gotarza, it made an impact that i've never forgotten.

 

[Lord Kjeran]

Chello!

My father, to his credit, said it should be fine. Hmmm. Thanks, dad.

lol...go, Dad!

My first (whenI was 9 or so) was "Conan of the Isles" the only fantasy novel my father has ever owned. He's more into westerns.

 

[Johannixx]

Mine was my dad's copy of Conan the Wanderer (I think it was either released through Sphere or Ace). Can't remember which particular stories it contained but the one that stood out was the story of the ghouls of Yanaider. What with Olgerd Vladislav and Gotarza, it made an impact that i've never forgotten.

I have that one. The story was called "The Flame Knife" and was a DeCamp-altered Howard story that originally was called "Three Bladed Doom" and had nothing to do with Conan I believe that one also had "The Devil in Iron" as well, which was a great story. Note that the Conan RPG book had stats for the meteor-forged Yuetshi knife that Conan used to slay Khosatral Khel, but no stats for Khosatral Khel himself

 

[Filthy Harald]

I met Conan at the age of 13, when I found the books my father read when he was younger. These books where of the first printing in germany from 1967 - 1971.

Howards storys were my first contact with fantasy at all and are the reason why I started roleplaying nearly 20 years ago.

So you can imagine how :lol: :shock: :lol: I was, when I stumble about the CONAN RPG in my local gaming store....

 

[BhilJhoanz]

I have trouble remembering but I'm fairly certain it happened like this:

A friend's father was a huge Conan fan -- I played D&D with his son and I was reading ERB (Tarzan\Mars) like a mofo in the 6th\7th grade. I would always roll up Tarzan to play in games and he would roll up Conan and then we would argue over who should be more powerful and then it was time to go home.

Anyway, I started reading Conan from the deCamp/ACE publications starting with book 1.

Later, his father took us to see the Movie when it came out. MY FIRST "R" MOVIE.

Strangely, it was the blood and gore that stuck with me longer than the nudity. I remember seeing the non-TV version of the movie a few years ago and being surprised by all the nudity since I had absolutely no recollection of it from before -- Thulsa Doom's head getting cut off in Slo-Mo, however . . .