Conan the Barbarian RPG

[Jerry]

I have noticed that there is a d20 Conan the Barbarian RPG out there, but I want to know if it matches the feel of the source material.
I heard that the magic system is different, but I'm still hoping for no wish/shapechange cheese.

I was thinking of The Riddle of Steel (which was inspired by Conan), a lethal fantasy RPG suggested in another thread.

What do you folks think?

[angelfromanotherpin]

Conan d20 tries not to be d20, but it fails.

Riddle of Steel is good for Conan stuff, but my pick would be Sorcerer. In either case, the Sorcerer supplement Sorcerer & Sword is a really good resource for emulating the genre.

This assumes that the source material you're talking about is the Howard stories and not the Schwarzenegger movies or movie-inspired comics.

[Jerry]

This assumes that the source material you're talking about is the Howard stories and not the Schwarzenegger movies or movie-inspired comics.

Thankfully, I'm talking about the books, not the movies.

Are you talking about this RPG?

http://www.sorcerer-rpg.com/brochure.ph ... intro.html

I ask because I want characters to not have to be cryptic folks consorting with demons.

[angelfromanotherpin]

That's the game, but being a Sorcerer in the game isn't as limiting as you seem to be assuming. Conan is just as much a Sorcerer in that set-up as Thoth-amon, or Elric, or Kane the Immortal. They all have different takes on it, of course.

But the key is that in none of those settings do the magicians cast spells that summon fire or turn themselves into giant snakes. With very few exceptions, they call up supernatural beings and bind them to service, which is the core of the Sorcery in the system.

Conan's not an overt magician, so he tends to stick to Command and Banish effects, although there's a few times he busts out the others.

[JonSetanta]

Shit. If Conan is a spellcaster, then I really don't know the series at all.

Jerry, you may not have realized this, but Conan is one of the inspirations for the entire D&D series. Many stereotypes, monsters, and magics are found in the game, albeit distorted through revisions and many, many other inspirations mixed in.


The Conan stories are a great setting. Sheer high adventure.
It's sad that Schwarzenegger wants nothing to do with the video game coming out, though.
Or a possible new movie.

[angelfromanotherpin]

Shit. If Conan is a spellcaster, then I really don't know the series at all.

Magicians in Conan don't cast spells. They use chemistry and hypnotism; and they have relationships with powerful magical entities. Even Thoth-amon just wheedles to his ring like Gollum until it summons horrible things to carry out his wishes.

Conan doesn't have any horrible things on call, because that's not how he rolls, but he totally has the same kind of authority over them. Check out his interactions with the mummy in Hour of the Dragon, or Yag-Kosha in Tower of the Elephant. Hell, there's one story (the name escapes me) where he draws an ancient symbol on the ground as a barrier to possessed animals.

Of course, there's a lot more to the setting than the Sorcery. Sorcerer & Sword has such gems as: 'there are only 3 levels of wealth: poor as dirt, getting by okay, and rolling in it. Pick whichever is appropriate at the start of each adventure.'

[RandomCasualty2]

I was thinking of The Riddle of Steel (which was inspired by Conan), a lethal fantasy RPG suggested in another thread.

What do you folks think?

Riddle of Steel is fucking simulationist hell. You fight more than one guy, you die. And I do mean just two guys. Winning a 2on1 is nearly impossible. You take any kind of wound, you're out of the fight (and possibly permanently fucked and bleeding to death). Heroes get absolutely no plot armor at all. You cannot run around like a bare chested Conan and expect to survive. In fact, you'd better be wearing armor and a shield at all times, or you're totally screwed.

In fact, it kind of sucks for everything. It was made by a bunch of SCA fools who think they know everything there is to know about real combat and tried to make a gritty realistic combat simulation. If you try to do anything remotely cinematic, you get kicked in the balls.

Combat in Riddle of Steel is a lot like GURPS where you pick a hit location, only unlike GURPS, it's totally unbalanced, because head shots and the like are real easy (only like a -1 to your dice pool), and most of the weapons are completely unbalanced based on what the aforementioned SCA know it alls thought was best. If you're looking for something more realistic, you're better off with GURPS, because the Riddle of Steel system is just horrible. At least GURPS lets you be semi-cinematic.