Which Elric rpg?

[René]

My next campaign will evolve around a Ophirean / Stygian Noble - and later Noble / Scholar - (a PC) and his various minions / followers / mercenaries etc. (the other two PCs).

To give it some more magical flavour I intend to use ideas from Elric's world. Which of the two rpgs available is better suited:

Stormbringer or Dragon Lords of Melniboné?



Thanks for your help!

 

[The King]

Basically this is the same content in both books. Only the game system is different: Stormbringer use BRPG (like Call of Cthulhu) and Dragon Lord use D20 system. Thus I suggest you the latter. It is especially good for demonic summoning because you can choose the attributes and feats of the creatures you wished to invocate.
In Stormbringer demons are not only fighting machines: there are also guardian demon (which are incarnated in gates for example), pleasure demon (like in Shadizar) and transport demon (which take several form). They can also be contained in objects to give them magic power (this is the only case where you have magic items).

Another major difference between both books is that Stormbringer features 2 scenarios while Dragon Lord has none.

 

[argo]

I've heard some prety bad things about both games and espically about the d20 conversion (though that might just have been the BRP fanboys throwing a fit).

Though I've never played either myself so take that for what you will.

Later.

 

[Lando The Archmagi]

I've run and played Stormbringer since its 1st edition incarnation many years ago, its a better product in my opinion and has much more of the real flavor of Michael Moorcock's Elric series in it. It does use the Basic Roleplaying System that is used in all of Chaosium's game, CoC being the main line.

The Dragon Lords d20 book is an ok conversion of it, but it lacks some of the other stuff that is found in the main Stormbringer book (lack of the adventures and such). I got both books, ELRIC! (which is what 5th edition is based off of) and Stormbringer 4th edition and a map still from the original 1st edition boxed set.

There are some supplements, some of them out of print done for ELRIC! or Stormbringer 4th edition which are useful/helpful for the 5th edition.

The Bronze Grimoire being one of them with more spells/demonic summoning/demon examples that would be useful.

Arioch! Arioch! Blood and souls!

 

[The King]

BTW Pan Tang sorcerers make very good Stygian villains.

 

[Ant]

This has been discussed on multiverse.org in this thread: Chaosium Notes.

Quite a few folks - including me - would like to see a Mongoose Elric RPG. Others favour adapting the Green Ronin Blue Rose/True 20 rules.

Of existing games, the concensus across various sites seems to be that Stormbringer is better than Dragon Lords of Melniboné, as the latter fudged the conversion regarding magic, sticking too closely to the d20 core rules.

But DLOM is probably easier to integrate with a Conan campaign as they're both using d20.

Gr.,
Ant

 

[René]

Thanks for your answers, guys! You were very helpful!

 

[toothill man]

late too the debate but my vote goes to stormbringer have used both but thats my favourite 8)

 

[Turloigh]

René: If you want to make use of the Conan OGL/d20 system, then - as others have said - "Dragon Lords of Melnibone" will be a better choice, system-wise.

If you want my advice: Switch the system and go for playing Elric/Stormbringer. IMHO it's simply the better game. No fuss with levels, feats, or character classes.

Out of curiousity, what kinds of ideas from Elric's world are you looking for? What do you think is useful for a Conan game? (Could be I'm thinking along similar lines...)

 

[Strom]

Stormbringer was a great game! I loved the idea of binding demons - that could be translated into Conan the RPG somewhat.

The process of binding was an adventure onto itself if you rolled bad and if you bound the demon to your sword and it broke during combat, then a simple battle between you and a guard would turn very bad, very quickly!

I loved the Noble class too because you could roll to see how close to the throne you were. Let the assassinations begin! 8) :lol:

 

[The King]

The customization of demons is the greatest thing in stormbringer / dragon lord. With this the players never fight the same creatures ... as Conan.

 

[René]

Out of curiousity, what kinds of ideas from Elric's world are you looking for? What do you think is useful for a Conan game? (Could be I'm thinking along similar lines...)

I don't know yet. I read an Elric omnibus in my middle-teens (sweet, sweet youth), so I'm looking for nothing specific. I just miss some flesh for the intended character concept, and since Elric has a lot of demon summoning & magic and has a similar / related atmosphere IIRC...