Quote from: Brander;884219Savage Worlds would be my choice now, as voted.

Before I moved to Savage Worlds for most my games, it would have been Gurps.

Way back when, I actually ran and played a bit of the TSR Conan game and recall having a fair bit of fun, though I recall few of the details as to why.

So for Savage Worlds what supplements, optional rules, magic systems, etc... would you use?

Quote from: CRKrueger;884225So for Savage Worlds what supplements, optional rules, magic systems, etc... would you use?

Sorry for taking the question but here is what I have gathered since I have been thinking about going over to SW for future hyborian gaming:

Realms of Cthulhu would be fitting. For the same kind of reasons people tend to add stuff from CoC into BRP/RQ for Hyborian Age campaigns.Mythos creatures, magic, sanity system (the usual suspects) and random tables for generating your own mythos critters.

The Horror Companion + The Fantasy Companion would work well I think. I have heard the epecially the Horror Companion have fitting magic.

Many people reccommend The Savage World of Solomon Kane as base game and then add to it. Epecially for the magic. This with the Fantasy&Horror Companions and Savage Sword of Conan hack below (and a setting guide like Road of Kings) would be quite complete material for playing in Hyborian Age for a long time.

Savage Sword of Conan is a fan made conversion for Savage Worlds. Good for the critters and random encounter tables but lacks any real twist to magic.
https://www.google.se/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://savageheroes.com/conversions/savage%2520sword%2520of%2520conan_online.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwjdgoj80LTLAhXlE5oKHRLVAfkQFggeMAE&usg=AFQjCNEs6z1EOrONH2-XZWFXXNxOCx6geA&sig2=OOEapSo0doSHhzZ3gk6i4g

Beasts & Barbarians seems quite a howardesque generic setting book which could do Hyborian Age.It got some genre emulation mechanics and notes on magic.http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/96199/Beasts--Barbarians-Golden-Edition?manufacturers_id=3554&filters=0_0_1600_0_0

I voted for RQ6/Mythras... but after thinking a bit, I'd probably start with Magic World and steal liberally from other BRP-related games, including RQ6.

Quote from: CRKrueger;884225So for Savage Worlds what supplements, optional rules, magic systems, etc... would you use?

To expand on what Teodrik said:

I'd use the setting rules Blood & Guts, Born a Hero, Gritty Damage, Joker's Wild, and No Power Points.  I'd modify the backlash to represent at least a certain amount of corruption from magic, though it would likely be on a spell by spell basis.

Definitely the rituals and Magick from Horror Companion.

I do have Solomon Kane and Beasts and Barbarians, but haven't looked at them deep enough to decide what to use or not use from them.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

BTW, for anyone wanting to do Savage Conan, grab Totems of the Dead...definitely worth it.

Quote from: Madprofessor;884074hmmm... can't say I familiar with this one, and I like toolkits.  I'll have to check it out.  Is it a d20 SRD thing?

Yep. It's a second generation derivative, derived from Spycraft which derived from D&D 3e.

It isn't as magic dependent as D&D; you can tweak the level of magic and several other aspects of the campaign world. Also, the skill system in more central to the mechanics of the game than in D&D, which means to me that you can lean harder on making skills the focus of the challenges in the game (e.g., "I tip over the elephant headed statue" "okay, roll Athletics", etc.)

Quote from: CRKrueger;884260BTW, for anyone wanting to do Savage Conan, grab Totems of the Dead...definitely worth it.

I was vaguely aware of this, so I looked it up on DTRPG and GOD DAMMIT HOW IS THIS NOT A RQ6 SETTING

How difficult do you figure conversion would be?

Quote from: CRKrueger;884260BTW, for anyone wanting to do Savage Conan, grab Totems of the Dead...definitely worth it.

I in fact just did :-)

Thanks for the recommendation.

Quote from: The Butcher;884267I was vaguely aware of this, so I looked it up on DTRPG and GOD DAMMIT HOW IS THIS NOT A RQ6 SETTING

How difficult do you figure conversion would be?

Well some of the stuff is reskinned SW, some of it is converted stuff liberally inspired by Mongoose Conan.  I think there's enough in RQ6 to get you close for a lot of the things (it would have been a helluva lot easier with the additional 400+ spells from AiG to compare against, but oh well).

But I mean if Conan is tired of ruling Aquilonia, and Zenobia dies giving birth to his 5th or 6th kid, he leaves the throne to Conn and crosses the sea to DIE LIKE A FUCKING BOSS...this is where he goes.

You can have a have a Skinwalker warrior and his Deer Woman lover riding a Mammoth with a Frost Giant Skull for a helmet, a Wendol pelt cape, an Obisidan Club taken from a Priest of the Smoking Mirror, and a Kachina Spirit Advisor.  Your partner could be a mystic/monk from Khitai who worships the Elephant God (Yoga after his final enchantment).  You can measure your wealth in War Captives.  It doesn't get any better than this, and I haven't even started in on the dinosaurs yet.

Take what we know of Pre-Columbian cultures from the Inuit to the Mayans and from the Pacific Coastal tribes to the Atlantic Coastal tribes, toss them in a Cauldron from the Isle of Atlantis, and use Lovecraft and Howard as the recipe books. (You think Set is scary in a S&S setting, try Tezcatlipoca or Tlaloc.)

I've got Monster Island in my Hyborian Age campaign and one of the places the Smoking Mirrors can take you is definitely The Untamed Lands.

I like their Corruption and Backlash rules, they have cool Blood Magic, but all of Pete's Blood Magic from Legend is already in my campaign.  

The difference between True Magic (the red road) and Sorcery (the black road) is interesting and I've wondered about a way to tie that into Khemet and Deshret and apply that to the true nature of Stygia and Set somehow.

They have Seidr and Runecasting, but I already have those present from MRQII Vikings and Mythic Iceland.

All the gods, empires, tribes, secret societies, brotherhoods, etc... seems tailor-made for Mythras with a Cult system at it's core.

So Loz and Pete: GOD DAMMIT HOW IS THIS NOT A RQ6 SETTING

Fuck you Kruger and your fucking pitches. Added this to the cart.

Quote from: CRKrueger;884281(it would have been a helluva lot easier with the additional 400+ spells from AiG to compare against, but oh well).

:mad:

Quote from: CRKrueger;884281I've got Monster Island in my Hyborian Age campaign and one of the places the Smoking Mirrors can take you is definitely The Untamed Lands.

Pretty sure "God of the Smoking Mirror" is one of Tezcatlipoca's epithets.

What's the deal with the Atlanteans?

Quote from: The Butcher;884286Fuck you Kruger and your fucking pitches. Added this to the cart.
Pretty sure "God of the Smoking Mirror" is one of Tezcatlipoca's epithets.
What's the deal with the Atlanteans?

Just look at the monsterlist in the GMs guide.

Yeah Tezcatlipoca is the Smoking Mirror/God of Smoking Mirror.

Atlanteans are like Ur-Babylonians, magical and ruled by a God-King, but also isolated, decadent and in decline like Melniboneans.  Tying them into Howard, they could be descended from the original Atlanteans, before their powerful magicks unleashed the first great cataclysm in the Epoch before Kull.  One branch became the Kull Atlanteans->Cimmerians, the other branch stayed truer to their original sorcerous ways.

QuoteOriginally posted by Larsdangly
(Conan stories are horror, not heroic fantasy)

That's an interesting claim.

I think it demonstrates at least a mild distinction in approach to the power level of gaming in the Hyborian Age, and therefore system of choice.  Some (perhaps leaning towards the RQ6/BRP/GURPS crowd) see the setting as a gritty mix of quasi-history and eldritch weirdness (horror), while others (perhaps more of the the BoL/Savage Worlds crowd) see it as a highly cinematic, swashbuckling and heroic.  

In my games at least, players do not expect to be, or want to be handed Conan or Conan level characters complete with story immunity against loss of life, limb and sanity.  They may trod the jeweled thrones of the earth or rise to be kings by their own hand, but if they do, they do it from humble and mortal beginnings. PCs are above the cut, but they are not drawn in four color.

Other groups, I suppose, prefer to have a party full of Conans or Conan powered characters with heroic powers, beginnings, immunities and destinies.

Perhaps it's probably not as black and white as all that.

Howard drew from all kinds of influences so it is hard to categorize his work.  I tend to agree with what you are saying, but there is probably room in the stories for multiple interpretations.

I'm not really that big a Conan fan, but I would either use D&D or BRP (probably the Elric rules).

So who is going to write the Unofficial RQ 6 Conan RPG???

Quote from: Madprofessor;884025Yes,yes I am truly stunned by your "intellectual power especially as conveyed in writing."  Your dizzying intellect or my thick-headedness must be why your arguments make no sense to me. :rolleyes:

If that's your approach, I'll just leave it to you to decide which one it is, and we can move on:D.

QuoteI respect your perspective. I wouldn't mind learning about where you are coming from, I just get tired of every RPG discussion being turned into a narrative/simulationist categorization battle for which, more often than not, you are leading the narrativist charge.

Me, leading the narrativist charge? OMG...
The guy that works to make Fate simulationist is the leading narrativist around here?
Man, there really aren't many narrativists around here, it seems... (And you have never seen me leading a charge, or you wouldn't think that I'm doing anything of the sort).


No, there's definitely no use addressing your arguments (especially since you seem to have missed a crucial part of the post you replied to).
Just FYI, the part about GURPS using ST to cover for D&D's Str, Con and HP is outright untrue. It uses your ST, HT and your Parry for those goals, though they don't map cleanly to each other.

QuoteD&D HP are broad and unrealistic (they drive me crazy and I think they do a poor job of accomplishing what they are attempting to do) but they are still IC.

That's an example of why I said you didn't read my post.
As I said, there comes a point when a mechanic has so many holes in its IC consequences, that it's better to assume it's an OOC mechanic. HP are right there.

If you're trying to persuade me that they work better as an IC mechanic: I beg to differ. What in hell does a character feel upon gaining 8 more HP? "My flesh just got harder"? "I am now skilled enough to avoid injury from a very good blow, or even from a sneak attack"?

If you're trying to persuade me that they were meant to be an IC mechanic: people that were there said otherwise. You weren't there.

And they still work better as an OOC mechanic. Then those of us that can ignore some amount of those, can just roleplay as if there was no "HP screen" in front of the characters, and mark HP off when told. But trying to internalise them only works if the setting has biology that works on wildly divergent principles.

QuoteFair enough.  It was my mistake to get involved. I guess I should just bow to your self-proclaimed "intellectual power" and let you walk all over me and tell me how my play style is all wrong on every thread.  :rant:

I don't remember telling you how your playstyle is wrong. For that matter, I don't know your playstyle.
If you reach that conclusion from my general stance on HP, I'm sorry, but that's your conclusion.
But if you're not even going to read what I posted, it was your mistake to get involved.

QuoteBy all means.  Let's get back on topic. Tell me why you like the 43 AD magic system and why you think it is a good fit for the Hyborian Age.

Quote from: CRKrueger;883989Romans against Britons - I thought of taking a look at 43AD, even though I thought Zenobia, while very good, was, like BoL, a tad light.  I also thought of Savage Worlds - Weird Wars Rome or even Cthulhu: Invictus, of course, now there's Mythic Britain for RQ6/Mythras.

What was awesome about 43AD magic that makes it good for Hyborian Age gaming compared to any of the other games above that you've tried?

The importance of sacrifice to the gods.
It's a central concept in 43 AD magic, and in Hyboria. With some adaptation, if you want to get Seth's help, you can...but make sure to provide sacrificial victims. It's just such a good fit for "Hour of the Dragon"! The hits you sacrifice determine the strength of the magic...and there's a line towards the end of HotD that says almost literally the same thing:).
And when you add stuff like the abilities of philosophers from Zenobia, you can simulate even a sorcerer using his stupefiants to overcome an angry barbarian king, like in HotD. in fact, most sorcerers in Conan use one of these sources.
You could even allow PCs to use sorcery in that case, and it is much more likely to be seen as an awful thing - since they would need to provide the sacrificial victims:D.