So there are probably at least a half dozen different Conan RPGs out there now. The four I know of are.
AD&D Conan: A series of modules frpm around 84 set in the lands of Conan with rules for using the D&D system for it to create the overall low fantasy feel of the books. There was also a Red Sonja one.
Conan: From TSR in 85 and probably the first Conan RPG. Uses a percentile system and is pretty good really.
Addendum: And a Gurps Conan from 89
d20 Conan: By Mongoose in2004, saw 2 editions.
And one other recent Conan RPG? addendum: From Modiphus in 2017 it seems.
So. If you have tried any of these, or ones not mentioned above. Which one did you like and why?
For me I really enjoyed the original percentile system one. It was fairly well put together and had an extra section covering various details.
Runner up is the AD&D Conan set as it does the job really well of showing how you can trim down AD&D to use for such a setting. No elves, no clerics, wizards are mostly NPCs and so on. Also a system for dealing with fear and horror which was a recurring element in the books.
I have seen at least one of the d20 books.
The most recent Conan was the one by Modiphius.
There's also this one:
https://www.google.com/search?q=conan+o%27brien&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari
My work is done here.
I would just stick with the AD&D if I were going to do it. Mainly because I'm used to the rules and don't like learning new ones.
GURPS Conan (http://www.warehouse23.com/products/gurps-classic-conan) has been made available again, a little while back. There are also four adventures for it.
Mongoose' Conan d20 game was actually very good, in our experience. Probably my favourite d20 iteration.
I've played a bit of them all over the years but as a die hard REH fan I think Modiphius reay hit a home run. Sure, their take in the setting is awesome but the system really mates to the Conan stories perfectly.
Quote from: rgrove0172;1097767I've played a bit of them all over the years but as a die hard REH fan I think Modiphius reay hit a home run. Sure, their take in the setting is awesome but the system really mates to the Conan stories perfectly.
First I've heard anyone say that. I thought the Modiphius system was pretty strongly disliked by REH fans. There's a lengthy discussion on RPGPUB, and the Rambling Conan Blog has dissected both system and setting (and art), declaring them all failures to represent REH's work well.
So since I like hearing other opinions, what do you like about Modiphius' work?
Think that's pretty much it.
1. AD&D Modules
2. TSR Conan
3. GURPS Conan
4. Mongoose d20 Conan
5. Modiphius Conan
Seeing as sword&sorcery is kind of a default setting for RPGs, there are a lot of rule sets that are Conan or Conan-adjacent.
Barbarians of Lemuria and Riddle of Steel to name 2 more.
The non-exclusively-Gloranthan versions of Runequest/d100/BRP.
The d20 Conan Atlantean Edition is the best of the bunch, in my opinion. GURPS Conan gets an honorable mention due to the quality of the adventures, and the fact they're all solos. Actually, the primary GURPS Conan book is probably the most succinct and useful supplement for the stories (and other games), which comes as no surprise to anyone on here familiar with GURPS, I'd bet.
If I were actually going to play a Conan-style game today, I'd probably just use B/X D&D and only allow fighters and thieves as PCs.
Quote from: Omega;1097756So. If you have tried any of these, or ones not mentioned above. Which one did you like and why?
For me I really enjoyed the original percentile system one. It was fairly well put together and had an extra section covering various details.
I played Conan using DragonQuest, back in the day, before moving it over to Mongoose Traveller rules.
I use the Valdorian Setting in Hero to emulate Conan, still to this day. I am itching to try the Modiphius, as I have all the available materials in that line.
I've played all the Conan RPGs except the new one from Modiphius.
They were all okay.
Best Conan campaign I played used the Stormbringer ruleset. It's D100 and a faster play version of RQ with nasty demon based sorcery that translated easily to Conan.
In some ways, CONAN is a hard genre to capture the full flavour.
On one hand it is full of gritty combat and different cultures and such.
So a system like BRP would work great - I was going to give it a go in BRP Mythras.
Modiphius nailed this quite well with a crunchy system, which includes hit locations, arms & armour, and encourages cinematic combat (based on a meta-currency economy)
The character generation is reasonably lengthy by today's standards, but does create characters that feel like they are already living and breathing in the setting.
The books are also full of lore on the regions and cultures, and it is hard to fault how much devotion has gone into creating this game line.
So I would count Modiphius Conan a must for any true collector of Hyborian lore.
The books are also beautiful, and the entire line is highly recommended.
On the other hand, many of the Conan stories are also rollicking pulp adventures.
Modiphius doesn't really capture this aspect all that well, as it would lend itself to a faster-paced system with much lighter game mechanics.
(A troupe very familar with Modiphius Conan may be able to emulate the pace, but I haven't grokked it yet).
One of the best systems designed for this pulpier approach is Barbarians Of Lemuria. Five minute character gen, simple character sheet, and straight-forward core mechanics.
Set it against the backdrop of Conan's world, keeping an emphasis on characters and action; rather than on grittiness or setting lore.
So in many ways it is hard to find a game that captures both aspects of CONAN well enough to do it justice.
Modiphius Conan is perfect for one style, whereas Barbarians Of Lemuria is perfect for the other.
Quote from: Spinachcat;1097845Best Conan campaign I played used the Stormbringer ruleset. It's D100 and a faster play version of RQ with nasty demon based sorcery that translated easily to Conan.
Yeah I can see the MagicWorld (Stormbringer) BRP rules being a decent compromise between the tactile grittiness of the setting, and the faster-paced rollicking action of some of the stories.
In addition to the SB demon sorcery, if you add Call of Cthulhu magic to the setting (including SAN loss), then BRP can easily portray a reasonable approximation of Hyborian Sorcery as well.
I updated my opening post with a bit more detail and dates.
So allmost a half dozen. A full dozen if you count my old RPG from the 90s. Parody though so I do not count it. :D
I could have sworn there was another called Hyborian Age or somesuch. But seems not. There was a Vallejo CCG called that though.
La Puerta de Ishtar (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?keywords=ishtar) if you understand spanish, lends itself very well for emulating Conan. As a matter of fact there's a fan made pdf that gives all the info needed for this.
That said so far my favorite published game for playing Conan is BoL. Hope my Urth game will do it better since I'm designing it from the ground up to do just that.
One game I haven't seen anybody mention is Zerf's, TSR Conan with the numbers filed down (if not mistaken) and freely available.
Edited to add: Low Fantasy Gaming (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/231747/Low-Fantasy-Gaming-RPG) also emulates Conan pretty well if you ask me.
Jaws of the Six Serpents from Silver Branch Games is a PDQ System game designed for Conan-style swords and sorcery.
Requires Green Ronin's Dragon AGE AGE of Conan (https://vaelorn.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/age-of-conan-v0-1.pdf)
Oh, found the one was misremembering. Was Hyborian War, a PBM wargame if I recall correctly rather than an RPG.
Yeah there are like a bazillion Conan-esque knock offs. Nearly as many as there are novels. Including the Thongor series which nearly beat out Conan as the first modern barbarian movie. With David Prowse as Thongor no less! The Green Cross Man battling monsters of Lemuria!
Yeah, ZeRFR's isn't too bad, and it was the system TSR used for CONAN in the 1980s. There is a poster giving a very good overview of it on RPG Pub at present.
As another simple system to rival BoL, Jaws Of the Seven Serpents (JSS) is really good. It uses the PDQ system, which as a much more much more 'narrative' flavour than BoL.
PDQ would appeal to those who like Fate or HeroQuest, and requires a bit of creative thinking during the char gen process. It is very good however, I put JSS on a par with BoL for simplicity. It really boils down to personal taste, JSS requires more thought initially, whereas BoL char gen is very straight forward.
BoL and JSS aren't CONAN games per see, but they are heavily inspired by that flavour of Swords & Sorcery, and the Hyborian World can easily be used for their default setting.
Quote from: Mankcam;1097930BoL and JSS aren't CONAN games per see, but they are heavily inspired by that flavour of Swords & Sorcery, and the Hyborian World can easily be used for their default setting.
BoL is my S&S system of choice, I would just take the "fluff" from Howard and the comics if I wanted to run a game in the Hyborian Age.
I wonder how DCC would handle Conan? The magic rules already smell very Howardian. I guess Character generation change would be a way to land closer to Conan, but actual play I think it is pretty close now.
It's a shame that there aren't that many actual plays of Modiphius Conan. Those that play seem to like it. I have the pdfs but I don't think my players would like it. The system is a bit confusing and clunky. An acquaintance of mine made maps for some of the supplements, btw.
For a crunchy system, Modiphius Conan seems quite good. There is a micro-game with the Momentum-Doom Pt economy to get used to, and that can put off some people. Although I prefer a version of BRP for a crunchy set of mechanics, the Modiphius 2D20 is not a bad option for this kind of thing.
I'm not sure if I will ever run it, but I will happily play in a Modiphius Conan game if someone GMs it for me.
Conan D20 was the best of the bunch in my opinion. I DMed a campaign that went on for the better part of 5 years, and the players loved it.
It massaged the D20 system enough to make it better adapted to Hyboria, but still had enough crunch to satisfy 3.0/3.5 players. I didn't allow any sorcerers, to keep them essentially misterious and otherworldly. It's amazing how quickly people adapt to a world where there is no magical healing, and the level of tactical play goes up dramatically. My guys started becoming master ambushers and used all tactical advantages they could muster in order to reduce return fire and the possibility of being wounded.
Mobbing rules allowed the traditional image of the horde of Picts overwhelming even the strongest of warriors to become a gaming reality, avoiding the D&D trope of the high-level warrior ignoring all the guardsmen because they could not even touch him most of the time and did negligible damage whenever they were lucky enough to hit.
All in all, an extremely enjoyable experience and by far my best go around with DMing Conan (I also DMed GURPS Conan back in the mists of time, and it was good too, just not quite as good as Conan D20).
Quote from: Stephen Tannhauser;1097870Jaws of the Six Serpents from Silver Branch Games is a PDQ System game designed for Conan-style swords and sorcery.
JotSS is my personal favorite S&S game. It would absolutely work well for Conan.
The true beauty of Conan is the "f*** you" setting. The Hyborian World carries no favors for PCs.
It's fun & nice but, also deadly.
Quote from: Theory of Games;1098156The true beauty of Conan is the "f*** you" setting. The Hyborian World carries no favors for PCs.
It's fun & nice but, also deadly.
It certainly has the illusion of being deadly, but if your heroes are made on the level of Conan himself (which the Modiphius version certainly provides), then death most often comes from them rather than to them. Modiphius has metacurrency that ensures every scene feels like death is on the table, but it is generally not too likely unless the people at the table (GM and players) want it to happen and spend the pools to make it go that way.
Unless the GM starts with Double or Triple the recommended Doom Points.
Then the PCs could be f**ked, heh heh
Quote from: HappyDaze;1098161It certainly has the illusion of being deadly, but if your heroes are made on the level of Conan himself (which the Modiphius version certainly provides), then death most often comes from them rather than to them. Modiphius has metacurrency that ensures every scene feels like death is on the table, but it is generally not too likely unless the people at the table (GM and players) want it to happen and spend the pools to make it go that way.
Unless the GM starts an adventure with double or triple the recommended Doom Pts.
Then the PCs could find things much more challenging
Quote from: HappyDaze;1098161It certainly has the illusion of being deadly, but if your heroes are made on the level of Conan himself (which the Modiphius version certainly provides), then death most often comes from them rather than to them. Modiphius has metacurrency that ensures every scene feels like death is on the table, but it is generally not too likely unless the people at the table (GM and players) want it to happen and spend the pools to make it go that way.
That's one of the great things about GURPS Conan: the combat system is deadly and tactical, and if you play Conan or some other high-powered character, you get a huge amount of ability, but you'll still die if you get hacked up or shot or whatever, so you need to supply part of the greatness of your heroes by making decisions and tactical moves that tend to mean those things aren't so likely to happen - i.e. there is an actual game to play about what to do and how to do it, where your success depends on how well you play, and luck/Kromm.
(That's why I don't like abstract combat systems, where combat tends to largely just be a matter of "I fight them" and then the power of your character meaning you probably win.)
Quote from: Skarg;1098400That's one of the great things about GURPS Conan: the combat system is deadly and tactical, and if you play Conan or some other high-powered character, you get a huge amount of ability, but you'll still die if you get hacked up or shot or whatever, so you need to supply part of the greatness of your heroes by making decisions and tactical moves that tend to mean those things aren't so likely to happen - i.e. there is an actual game to play about what to do and how to do it, where your success depends on how well you play, and luck/Kromm.
(That's why I don't like abstract combat systems, where combat tends to largely just be a matter of "I fight them" and then the power of your character meaning you probably win.)
Modiphius Conan is not abstract, and if you want to spend metacurrency to pull an "I win" you might be able to do so... and then the metacurrency bites you back. This means luck is still involved because you may gamble on getting through fights without tugging on the metacurrency because you fear the potential repercussions of loading the GM's Doom pool. OTOH, you can spend early to ensure you'll get to the climax of the adventure only to overdo it and likely go down horribly in the end to the Doom you've crafted.
Quote from: HappyDaze;1098404Modiphius Conan is not abstract, and if you want to spend metacurrency to pull an "I win" you might be able to do so... and then the metacurrency bites you back. This means luck is still involved because you may gamble on getting through fights without tugging on the metacurrency because you fear the potential repercussions of loading the GM's Doom pool. OTOH, you can spend early to ensure you'll get to the climax of the adventure only to overdo it and likely go down horribly in the end to the Doom you've crafted.
Ok.
That doesn't sound like it would appeal to me much, because it sounds like it is about abstract metacurrency and things that are not about the situation supposedly in play, e.g. "the GM's Doom pool". I'm more interested in playing a game with terrain and situations and characters that move around and have specific abilities and equipment, and moving in ways that make sense given that situation, so the game is about that situation, involving people, weapons, terrain, tactics, etc that behave in ways that make sense for the situation.
(Maybe this is an off-topic digression, and if so, sorry, but:
My experience and impression of abstract metacurrency mechanics is that they tend not to really be about the situation and are all (or at least, much more) about the metacurrency. i.e. the same game mechanics might apply to busting Leia out of the Death Star detention level as would apply to Conan fighting Rexor et al at the Battle of the Mounds, or James Bond fighting some assassins (and him fighting on a train, an airplane, underwater, or a car chase might all use identical mechanics, too). No?)
Quote from: Skarg;1098437Ok.
That doesn't sound like it would appeal to me much, because it sounds like it is about abstract metacurrency and things that are not about the situation supposedly in play, e.g. "the GM's Doom pool". I'm more interested in playing a game with terrain and situations and characters that move around and have specific abilities and equipment, and moving in ways that make sense given that situation, so the game is about that situation, involving people, weapons, terrain, tactics, etc that behave in ways that make sense for the situation.
(Maybe this is an off-topic digression, and if so, sorry, but:
My experience and impression of abstract metacurrency mechanics is that they tend not to really be about the situation and are all (or at least, much more) about the metacurrency. i.e. the same game mechanics might apply to busting Leia out of the Death Star detention level as would apply to Conan fighting Rexor et al at the Battle of the Mounds, or James Bond fighting some assassins (and him fighting on a train, an airplane, underwater, or a car chase might all use identical mechanics, too). No?)
Your generalization is not entirely accurate. The Conan version of 2d20 cares a great deal about terrain and other situation effects (without spending metacurrency--this is
not FATE). Keep in mind too that while Modiphius has tried to apply their base system across multiple types of play, I find their Conan version plays very nicely. OTOH, I find their Star Trek version terrible, especially in the way metacurrency moves supporting NPCs into/out of focus. Watch or read some sample plays of Modiphius Conan before dismissing it as not making sense for the situation.
Didn't Mongoose do a Rune Quest based Conan a few years back? d20 Conan as well IRRC (which I might well not). Rune Quest would work well for Conan. You just need divine magic for Mithra and Set and sorcery for the Hyperborians and Black Circle. They also had Lankhmar and The Young Kingdoms from Elric.
You could do it with Rolemaster. Hillman Rogue, not much more too it really. I always wanted to play a Dunlending named Conan in MERP Probably around rank 4 in main skills in RM2 or 8 in RMSS. Training package really inflate skill ranks at low levels but they also drive you into the diminishing returns past rank 10 faster, so the initial advantage is largely lost at higher levels.
I've tried to run Conan with GURPS a few times but the players really don't grok the setting because they've only seen the movies.
Quote from: Skarg;1098437Ok.
That doesn't sound like it would appeal to me much, because it sounds like it is about abstract metacurrency and things that are not about the situation supposedly in play, e.g. "the GM's Doom pool". I'm more interested in playing a game with terrain and situations and characters that move around and have specific abilities and equipment, and moving in ways that make sense given that situation, so the game is about that situation, involving people, weapons, terrain, tactics, etc that behave in ways that make sense for the situation.
(Maybe this is an off-topic digression, and if so, sorry, but:
My experience and impression of abstract metacurrency mechanics is that they tend not to really be about the situation and are all (or at least, much more) about the metacurrency. i.e. the same game mechanics might apply to busting Leia out of the Death Star detention level as would apply to Conan fighting Rexor et al at the Battle of the Mounds, or James Bond fighting some assassins (and him fighting on a train, an airplane, underwater, or a car chase might all use identical mechanics, too). No?)
Modiphius Conan is a pretty crunchy game, lots of tactical and simulationist working parts, similar to games like BRP, GURPs, Harn, Rolemaster etc
But it also has a meta-currency as well. This works well in practice, but would not appeal to everyone.
Quote from: David Johansen;1098467Didn't Mongoose do a Rune Quest based Conan a few years back? d20 Conan as well IRRC (which I might well not). Rune Quest would work well for Conan. You just need divine magic for Mithra and Set and sorcery for the Hyperborians and Black Circle. They also had Lankhmar and The Young Kingdoms from Elric.
You could do it with Rolemaster. Hillman Rogue, not much more too it really. I always wanted to play a Dunlending named Conan in MERP Probably around rank 4 in main skills in RM2 or 8 in RMSS. Training package really inflate skill ranks at low levels but they also drive you into the diminishing returns past rank 10 faster, so the initial advantage is largely lost at higher levels.
I've tried to run Conan with GURPS a few times but the players really don't grok the setting because they've only seen the movies.
I remember the folks on the mongoose forums explaining that even though they had the Conan license they were only allowed to publish it with one game system, so they originally intended to publish a runequest version, but were legally not able to. Their d20 version was not bad at all IMO, but I never played it and only read it. But it made d20 "feel" like Conan (low massive damage save vs death with escalating DC, sorcery dark, unreliable and dangerous, AC (defense) based on dodge or parry characteristic and armor being DR instead of armor class.
Quote from: David Johansen;1098467Didn't Mongoose do a Rune Quest based Conan a few years back? d20 Conan as well IRRC (which I might well not). Rune Quest would work well for Conan. You just need divine magic for Mithra and Set and sorcery for the Hyperborians and Black Circle. They also had Lankhmar and The Young Kingdoms from Elric
No there was no official BRP / RQ version of CONAN. Mongoose did do RQ and CONAN at the same time, but they were separate systems.
However there was some cross bleed between them - Mongoose Conan certainly felt very BRP-ish in many ways. Not in core mechanics, but a lot of the fluff was consistent with stuff seen in many BRP products.
There is a link with Jason Durall as well. He was involved with Mongoose Conan, he compiled the BRP core book, he was involved with Modiphius Conan, and he is now line developer for the new RuneQuest - so the properties and settings seem to be intertwined to a degree
Quote from: Brad;1097780The d20 Conan Atlantean Edition is the best of the bunch, in my opinion. GURPS Conan gets an honorable mention due to the quality of the adventures, and the fact they're all solos. Actually, the primary GURPS Conan book is probably the most succinct and useful supplement for the stories (and other games), which comes as no surprise to anyone on here familiar with GURPS, I'd bet.
If I were actually going to play a Conan-style game today, I'd probably just use B/X D&D and only allow fighters and thieves as PCs.
Mongoose Conan technically has three editions:
-1st
-Atlantean Edition.
-2nd
They're all pretty similar but I think that 2nd is clearly the best because it gets rid of the one size fits all and kludgy defensive blast and replaces it with a bunch of flavorful last-ditch defensive magic. It also makes Temptress a core class which is a good idea and does some bits of fixing around the edges.
The 1st and Atlantean editions defensive blast magic really struck in my craw as it was the only annoying thing about an otherwise awesome magic system and 2ed replacement is so much better and very flavorful.
Overall Mongoose Conan is solid if you can stand the standard warts of 3ed D&D (doling out skill points, trying to get your feats to work together properly, etc. etc. etc.). It's my favorite version of 3ed by a long shot because:
-The magic system is freaking amazing and great for S&S (especially the 2ed version) and fixes so many issues with 3ed. Now casters aren't overpowered and having so few magical buffs makes the game run a lot more smoothly.
-Armor/DR/combat system that's a bit fiddly but workable as the magic overhaul makes most other stuff a lot simpler.
-Grittier overall with weapon damage ramped up and massive damage kicking in at 20 HP which makes combat a bit bloodier and dangerous for PCs. Also bit mobs of low level NPCs are a bit more dangerous since if a bunch of people attack you they get bonuses to hit.
-Multiclassing is smoother and you can mix and match stuff without worrying too much about gimping yourself. You can even mutliclass pretty smoothly between casters and non-casters without gimping yourself because, like I said above, the magic system is really really solid.
-Some flavorful combat stunts and are funky but mostly get ignored in play (at least in my game). Some fun combat-focused feats though.
-Game's set up with the assumption that players will regularly blow through all their cash so people are really dependent on their equipment much at all.
Quote from: oggsmash;1098482I remember the folks on the mongoose forums explaining that even though they had the Conan license they were only allowed to publish it with one game system, so they originally intended to publish a runequest version, but were legally not able to. Their d20 version was not bad at all IMO, but I never played it and only read it. But it made d20 "feel" like Conan (low massive damage save vs death with escalating DC, sorcery dark, unreliable and dangerous, AC (defense) based on dodge or parry characteristic and armor being DR instead of armor class.
Yeah a lot of good ideas in the first edition but some of the implementation was pretty sloppy, the Atlantean Edition was a good patch and by second edition the game was really quite solid if you can stand standard d20 warts like skill synergy and all that crap.
Quote from: HappyDaze;1098457Your generalization is not entirely accurate. The Conan version of 2d20 cares a great deal about terrain and other situation effects (without spending metacurrency--this is not FATE). Keep in mind too that while Modiphius has tried to apply their base system across multiple types of play, I find their Conan version plays very nicely. OTOH, I find their Star Trek version terrible, especially in the way metacurrency moves supporting NPCs into/out of focus. Watch or read some sample plays of Modiphius Conan before dismissing it as not making sense for the situation.
Quote from: Mankcam;1098481Modiphius Conan is a pretty crunchy game, lots of tactical and simulationist working parts, similar to games like BRP, GURPs, Harn, Rolemaster etc
But it also has a meta-currency as well. This works well in practice, but would not appeal to everyone.
Oh ok, interesting, thanks!
What would happen if you tried to run it without the meta-currency?
Quote from: Skarg;1098514Oh ok, interesting, thanks!
What would happen if you tried to run it without the meta-currency?
It wouldn't change much, be more deadly.
You have Fate Points, which have various uses.
1. Prevent death - Spend a point and you have been left for dead, but healable if someone tends to you within an hour, at which point you're -9 HPs. Not really an OOC decision to spend, unless you'd rather die. Can easily be passed off as favor of the gods, etc.
2. Mighty Blow - You can deal Max Damage with a hit, breaking your weapon in the process. OOC, but could be passed off as extreme effort.
3. Repentance - You spend Points to reduce Corruption. Getting into storyland here.
4. Destiny - Here we're in full Narrative Authorship mode (to be fair, they require the GM's ok). You can have a serving wench slip you a dagger while imprisoned, remember that season you spent in Hyrkania and pick up knowledge or a language, etc. Definitely OOC telling stories about your character.
The game plays fine without them, no core mechanics affected.
Quote from: Skarg;1098514Oh ok, interesting, thanks!
What would happen if you tried to run it without the meta-currency?
Well you could just run it with the Skill Rolls, but it may lose some of the essence that the authors invested in the game.
Personally if I didn't want to run Modiphius Conan RAW, then I would probably choose to run Hyborian adventures using a familiar system like BRP/Mythras (or BoL for a lighter game).
I could just use the Modiphius books for setting inspiration (of which they are very good). This was actually the original reason I collected the books for.
However the more I read the rules, the more the Modiphius system has grown on me. I think that the meta-currency may add an interesting dial to the game.
So I might give Modiphius Conan a go with the RAW before I cast any judgements. It seems to be an interesting mix of mild crunch with some game-play dials that will be interesting to see if it enhances the experience or not
I did manage to watch a GM run a Modiphius game at our local comic shop, and from what I saw the game played quite well. The meta-currency was a prominent feature, although everyone seemed to enjoy it, and the game also felt very Hyborian.
So it seemed to work well in practice. It remains to be seen how well I can GM it, or if it will work with my own group.
Quote from: Skarg;1098514Oh ok, interesting, thanks!
What would happen if you tried to run it without the meta-currency?
RAW... You can't really.
Modi's 2d20 Conan does a lot of stuff off the GM's DOOM! pool.
Monster and NPC abilities need to spend Doom! for the GM to 'activate' them.
You have Fortune and Momentum for the players, and Doom for the GM.
Modi could have designed the Game to just have rolled Fortune and Momentum into one type of metacurrency hero points for the PC's, but nope.
I personally hate the Momentum / Doom dynamic. GM's don't need points to do their thing!
Of course you could house-rule the game to work the way you want.
Quote from: Theory of Games;1098156The true beauty of Conan is the "f*** you" setting. The Hyborian World carries no favors for PCs.
It's fun & nice but, also deadly.
Verily. That was one of the things the two TSR versions make clear. No clerics. No raise dead for PCs and even the villains have a hard time getting that one.
Quote from: HappyDaze;1098161It certainly has the illusion of being deadly, but if your heroes are made on the level of Conan himself (which the Modiphius version certainly provides), then death most often comes from them rather than to them. Modiphius has metacurrency that ensures every scene feels like death is on the table, but it is generally not too likely unless the people at the table (GM and players) want it to happen and spend the pools to make it go that way.
Not really. Conan comes close to death, or actually gets his head handed to him fairly often and then has to figure a way out of whatever situation he has gotten himself into.
Quote from: CRKrueger;1098519It wouldn't change much, be more deadly.
You have Fate Points, which have various uses.
1. Prevent death - Spend a point and you have been left for dead, but healable if someone tends to you within an hour, at which point you're -9 HPs. Not really an OOC decision to spend, unless you'd rather die. Can easily be passed off as favor of the gods, etc.
2. Mighty Blow - You can deal Max Damage with a hit, breaking your weapon in the process. OOC, but could be passed off as extreme effort.
3. Repentance - You spend Points to reduce Corruption. Getting into storyland here.
4. Destiny - Here we're in full Narrative Authorship mode (to be fair, they require the GM's ok). You can have a serving wench slip you a dagger while imprisoned, remember that season you spent in Hyrkania and pick up knowledge or a language, etc. Definitely OOC telling stories about your character.
The game plays fine without them, no core mechanics affected.
Umm, for some reason I read Modiphius as Mongoose. D'oh! What I said above applies to Mongoose d20 Conan.
Modiphius 2d20 is a whole 'nother animal. You basically can run it houseruled without the meta-currencies, but here's what would be affected.
1. You couldn't hit higher than 4 successes on the 2d20, which makes the highest level of difficulty impossible.
2. You'd have to take all the abilities of all the NPCs and monsters and make them usable without Doom, which would make some foes very deadly indeed.
3. A lot of the intricacies of combat rely on Momentum being spent. Personally I would allow only personal Momentum, no banking it or giving it to others, and using that Momentum to apply Effects only to that singular roll that generated the Momentum. Then it's really not as much of a metacurrency as a Critical Hit system. Have NPCs use Momentum just like PCs and take off the Doom Point handcuffs on the GM and just play the thing straight.
4. The characters themselves would feel much more grounded and mundane without being able to buy dice to really kick ass.
Quote from: Omega;1098528Not really. Conan comes close to death, or actually gets his head handed to him fairly often and then has to figure a way out of whatever situation he has gotten himself into.
Yeah, people forget how much Conan gets the shit kicked out of him.
Phoenix on the Sword - Yeah, King Conan is one of the world's deadliest mean, who faced off against 20 men, but without the intervention of a demon...he dies there. Without Epimetrius tracing the Phoenix Rune on his sword, when facing the demon...he dies there.
A Witch Shall Be Born - Conan is crucified, and if Olgerd doesn't find him and cut him down...he dies there. The monster Thaug is slain not by Conan, but by Conan's Zuagir archers.
Iron Shadows in the Moon - Conan can do nothing against the titular Iron Men, and after cutting off the arm of a Gray Ape, and stabbing it mortally, still almost dies to its bite.
The Slithering Shadow - Conan fights and drives off Thog, but is so grievously wounded, that without the Golden Wine of Xuthal to heal him...he dies there.
Etc, etc.
Conan's legendary resilience is no more than any other human at the Apex of physical conditioning, like Batman. His surviving says nothing about Sword and Sorcery, or the Pulp genre, it's merely bog standard Literary Protagonism.
Quote from: CRKrueger;1098533Conan's legendary resilience is no more than any other human at the Apex of physical conditioning, like Batman. His surviving says nothing about Sword and Sorcery, or the Pulp genre, it's merely bog standard Literary Protagonism.
Not necessarily. Any one of those and many more could have been his last adventure had the author so desired. Keep in mind back then writers were not afraid to bump off their characters as much as modern ones are sometimes. People love to screech "plot armour!" but there really is no such thing unless the author comes out and says the character cant die/lose ever.
Quote from: Omega;1098528Not really. Conan comes close to death, or actually gets his head handed to him fairly often and then has to figure a way out of whatever situation he has gotten himself into.
Conan loses, but he never comes close to death at all. There is the illusion that he's close to death, but the writer is never going to kill him off and the reader pretty much knows this too. The meta-currency of Modiphius' 2d20 game actually allows the game to play much more like this than purely traditional games.
Quote from: HappyDaze;1098586Conan loses, but he never comes close to death at all. There is the illusion that he's close to death, but the writer is never going to kill him off and the reader pretty much knows this too. The meta-currency of Modiphius' 2d20 game actually allows the game to play much more like this than purely traditional games.
Here's the thing, I love me some Conan, but. I want to play in his world, and I want to do it without the plot armor that Conan obviously has in the novels as the main protagonist. So you just sold me out of Modiphius' 2d20 Conan forever, and if other games with the same 2d20 system are enough alike then those too.
Where's the fun if you are that difficult to kill? What are we? Game Journos?
Quote from: GeekyBugle;1098619Here's the thing, I love me some Conan, but. I want to play in his world, and I want to do it without the plot armor that Conan obviously has in the novels as the main protagonist. So you just sold me out of Modiphius' 2d20 Conan forever, and if other games with the same 2d20 system are enough alike then those too.
Where's the fun if you are that difficult to kill? What are we? Game Journos?
You don't have to choose to spend the meta-currency as plot armor, but it's an option if you want/need it. Keep in mind that same of the bad guys are so powerful that you might need to use the points offensively and, if you do, then you won't have them to spend defensively. So, survive and creep away or go down in a blaze of glory? Either
might be possible, but just spending meta-currency doesn't give guarantees, and that's why there's still fun in seeing how the dice roll.
Yeah from what I can see, Modiphius Conan ain't Savage Worlds. The meta-currency can help make the PCs more capable, and thus make them feel more powerful, but death is always on the cards. All the GM has to do is have a bigger stack of Doom Pts to even things up, then the opponents will be pretty challenging.
I was initially put of by the concept of Momentum/Doom Pts, but after watching it in practice I think it could work well with the right group.
I think in Modiphius Conan it is really up to the GM as to how brutal the game runs. From what I am reading, it can easily be as unforgiving as BRP, especially if the opponents are making use of the same opportunities as the PCs.
I think I also read that there are rules for generating less capable characters, so that will also allow for a much more harrowing time for the PCs, given the threats in the setting.
This game looks like it can be quite deadly, I think it will be up to the GM as to how much.
I think I also read that there are also rules for generating less capable characters, so that will also allow for more challenging play if one wants character death to be more of a present threat.
I have run Conan/Hyboria with GURPS and RuneQuest 3 with good results. As a player I found Modiphius Conan to be a complete clusterfuck as most of the game is about fiddling with Doom, Momentum and Fortune. Also why the fuck is a Pictish flint hatchet better than a broadsword.
As far as I can work out, only the GM has to account for Doom Pts.
The PCs do have Fortune Pts (akin to Bennies in Savage Worlds, Luck Pts in Mythras, Fate Pts in WFRP, etc).
They are in alot of games, so nothing new there. I think I would only start PCs with one Fortune Pt if I wanted to run a more unforgiving game.
Of course Momentum Pts are the big thing that has a huge presence in the game for the PCs, so I can understand them either loving it, or totally hating it.
Quote from: Gagarth;1098746I have run Conan/Hyboria with GURPS and RuneQuest 3 with good results. As a player I found Modiphius Conan to be a complete clusterfuck as most of the game is about fiddling with Doom, Momentum and Fortune. Also why the fuck is a Pictish flint hatchet better than a broadsword.
Because of course Pictish anything is better! Me having Pictish ancestry has nothing to do with it... lol Seriously though, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I've run Conan with Hero... and it works well there. I picked up the Modiphius stuff mainly and source material, but it does come across as a bit fiddly.
Quote from: oggsmash;1098482I remember the folks on the mongoose forums explaining that even though they had the Conan license they were only allowed to publish it with one game system, so they originally intended to publish a runequest version, but were legally not able to. Their d20 version was not bad at all IMO, but I never played it and only read it. But it made d20 "feel" like Conan (low massive damage save vs death with escalating DC, sorcery dark, unreliable and dangerous, AC (defense) based on dodge or parry characteristic and armor being DR instead of armor class.
They were also planning to do a Savage Worlds version, for the 'things that might have been' list.
Quote from: Armchair Gamer;1098777They were also planning to do a Savage Worlds version, for the 'things that might have been' list.
Well, Savage Worlds does have a Solomon Kane game, which seems rather fun.
Which edition was the one with a half naked chick on every page? Since I have little experience with the Conan games I'll vote for that one. You have to support the scantily clad women you know :)
Quote from: Trond;1098791Which edition was the one with a half naked chick on every page? Since I have little experience with the Conan games I'll vote for that one. You have to support the scantily clad women you know :)
Atlantean. All the books in that edition were very evocative of Howard's world.
Quote from: Armchair Gamer;1098777They were also planning to do a Savage Worlds version, for the 'things that might have been' list.
Beasts and barbarians pretty much is Conan. Savage worlds I think can cover Conan pretty well, with some flavor rules for magic. In Howard's stories, Conan does tend to have plot armor, but everyone knows this because the first ever published Conan tale was one where he is already King. So the reader already knows, Conan is not buying the farm in any other tale. I would say the vibe I look for in a Conan game is the world and rules around it, meaning though Conan may have plot armor in the stories, most everyone else is naked. If I play or gm in conan's world, I like for it to be clear hyboria is a dangerous place and there is one Conan, so choose wisely.
Quote from: HappyDaze;1098586Conan loses, but he never comes close to death at all. There is the illusion that he's close to death, but the writer is never going to kill him off and the reader pretty much knows this too. The meta-currency of Modiphius' 2d20 game actually allows the game to play much more like this than purely traditional games.
And that is the thing that turns me off Modis Conan game.
The game focuses on the GM and Players re-creating a R.E. Howard "Conan-style" story, set in Hyboria, with different characters.
And they throw 3 types of meta currency at the game to make it work.
You are not playing Characters having adventures in R.E. Howards
world of Hyboria.
It may seem like a subtle difference, but it is there.
It's a shame because the underlying 2d20 system is not bad at all.
Quote from: Mankcam;1098666Yeah from what I can see, Modiphius Conan ain't Savage Worlds. The meta-currency can help make the PCs more capable, and thus make them feel more powerful, but death is always on the cards. All the GM has to do is have a bigger stack of Doom Pts to even things up, then the opponents will be pretty challenging.
....
This is my #1 hate on the new Conan game meta currency's.
GM's do not need meta currency to do their jobs. As a GM I find GM meta currencies annoying to keep track of. Why? I don't need it! Why design the NPC abilities around them? WTF?
And as player I find GM meta currencies to induce a very board game style feel to play. Because you have a physical indicator (tokens or dice counter) when the GM is intentionally holding back, or about to bring the pain.
Quote from: Jaeger;1098832And that is the thing that turns me off Modis Conan game.
The game focuses on the GM and Players re-creating a R.E. Howard "Conan-style" story, set in Hyboria, with different characters.
And they throw 3 types of meta currency at the game to make it work.
You are not playing Characters having adventures in R.E. Howards world of Hyboria.
It may seem like a subtle difference, but it is there.
If there is a difference, it is so subtle that you are not making it clear.
When playing Modiphius Conan, you absolutely
are playing characters having adventures in REH's Hyboria. The play uses mechanics you might not like, but that doesn't make the first sentence any less true.
Quote from: HappyDaze;1098833If there is a difference, it is so subtle that you are not making it clear.
When playing Modiphius Conan, you absolutely are playing characters having adventures in REH's Hyboria. The play uses mechanics you might not like, but that doesn't make the first sentence any less true.
What Jaegar is getting at is that due to the system putting such a high focus on meta-currencies to emulate fiction, you're playing characters in a Howard Story set in the Hyborian Age. That's not the same thing as playing characters living in the Hyborian Age. The 4th wall awareness of the meta-currencies practically demands a separation between character and player with regards how those currencies will be used and the side effects they will have.
Quote from: Jaeger;1098832And that is the thing that turns me off Modis Conan game.
The game focuses on the GM and Players re-creating a R.E. Howard "Conan-style" story, set in Hyboria, with different characters.
And they throw 3 types of meta currency at the game to make it work.
You are not playing Characters having adventures in R.E. Howards world of Hyboria.
It may seem like a subtle difference, but it is there.
It's a shame because the underlying 2d20 system is not bad at all.
This is my #1 hate on the new Conan game meta currency's.
GM's do not need meta currency to do their jobs. As a GM I find GM meta currencies annoying to keep track of. Why? I don't need it! Why design the NPC abilities around them? WTF?
And as player I find GM meta currencies to induce a very board game style feel to play. Because you have a physical indicator (tokens or dice counter) when the GM is intentionally holding back, or about to bring the pain.
That is pretty much how I felt when I first received the book via the kickstarter. I ended up shelving it and getting the resources purely to read the content, and thought I would play Conan using BRP/Mythras or BoL.
However I saw the game in action at a local games shop, and it seems surprisingly fun, including the Momentum/Doom Pt flow. Then I watched some youtube vids and now I am keeping an open mind. It might go well with my own group, or it might go down like a sack of lead.
So I won't be critical until I've got some games of it under my belt, that's the only way I will know whether it works for us or not.
However I do share this concern regarding the growing trend of rpgs using meta-currency. Perhaps they work well for club and convention play, but I know that my own gang of friends usually prefer loose games without all these kind of dials.
Quote from: Mankcam;1098843That is pretty much how I felt when I first received the book via the kickstarter. I ended up shelving it and getting the resources purely to read the content, and thought I would play Conan using BRP/Mythras or BoL.
However I saw the game in action at a local games shop, and it seems surprisingly fun, including the Momentum/Doom Pt flow. Then I watched some youtube vids and now I am keeping an open mind. It might go well with my own group, or it might go down like a sack of lead.
So I won't be critical until I've got some games of it under my belt, that's the only way I will know whether it works for us or not.
However I do share this concern regarding the growing trend of rpgs using meta-currency. Perhaps they work well for club and convention play, but I know that my own gang of friends usually prefer loose games without all these kind of dials.
I know GM meta currency does not work for me - both as a GM and a player. (I have played other games that used similar Meta mechanics.)
As a GM, it's just one more thing to track, continually pulling away from the Flow of the game. And the way 2d20 Conan does it is particularly distracting as it is tied to NPC abilities.
As Player - Too many out of character group decisions made on whether or not to give the GM more "juice" to use against us later. Also makes a lot of fights a bit anti-climatic as you can easily tell when the GM is 'holding back' his fuck you points so as not to hit/Pick-on any single player too hard in a fight. I find that
very immersion breaking.
I Find GM meta points makes RPG's have an inherently more adversarial GM/Player dynamic. And they make the
game part of an RPG much more 'gamey'.
And the 2d20 Conan has fiddly damage dice on top of it all too. Really? You guys couldn't just use a d6 the normal way? And then there's the whole vigor/Wounds stuff.. Really just couldn't use a simple wound or hit point system could you?
Which sums up my whole opinion on the game: Fiddly, just to be different from everyone else because they can. A lot like the FFG star wars game...
It's a shame because the basic 2d20 mechanic is rather clever, and would work very well adapted to the Opposition roll mechanic used in Mythras.
Quote from: Jaeger;1098845I Find GM meta points makes RPG's have an inherently more adversarial GM/Player dynamic. And they make the game part of an RPG much more 'gamey'.
It's a matter of taste; I find that any game that makes heavy use of miniatures and a combat grid pulls me out of roleplaying while making me more adversarial and likely to make 'gamey' decisions than the metacurrencies do. This likely goes back to decades of boardgaming & wargaming where you don't necessarily play the character (or even the character of your army) but instead play the game and play it to win. It's not something that is enjoyable for myself or others in RPGs, so I avoid it.
Warning, strong opinions incoming. (Because it obviously touches on my game and the style of game that I like.)
Quote from: Jaeger;1098832And they throw 3 types of meta currency at the game to make it work.
So does mine, I just think that my types are clearer in purpose: Standard Fortune of which both the party and the GM have their own pool respectively with expended currency going straight to the opposing pool. Favor, which is individual Fortune Points (reflecting being personally more lucky than the average protagonist). And Power Points which get expended whenever you use a Trait or cast a spell. Essentially your do-cool-stuff points. They effectively limit how often you can use your cool tricks per "episode" as well.
Quote from: Jaeger;1098832You are not playing Characters having adventures in R.E. Howards world of Hyboria.
It may seem like a subtle difference, but it is there.
It's a shame because the underlying 2d20 system is not bad at all.
I can see the difference. The point is that I believe that most people who want to play on Hyboria don't want to play some guy in that world. They want to play as a protag - like Conan or Red Sonja or Subotai. The same people who play on Arda want to play as a protag comparable to Bilbo or Boromir or Gimli.
If you want to play as a character in one of these fictional worlds that has pretty much the same skill as these characters but not the same amount of luck, that's fine. A valid preference. But there's just other people who'd prefer PCs with comparable skill levels AND the same amount of luck as these characters. Isn't that boring because you're preordained to survive and succeed? Nah. You never know whether you character won't end up like Boromir, when you run out of luck.
But it's kinda interesting: there's reality simulation (think Hârnmaster), then there is genresim (think 2d20 Conan, or better yet KotBL ;) ). And then there is what you and the RPGPundit seem to prefer which seems to be inbetween (as you seemingly don't want to emulate heroic luck that's typical for the genre). I need to come up with name for this style of play (which hopefully indicates that I am
not dismissive of it).
I wonder if gamism and narrativism can be so cleanly dissected as well...
Quote from: Jaeger;1098832This is my #1 hate on the new Conan game meta currency's.
GM's do not need meta currency to do their jobs.
The sheer amount of GM dice fudging behind the screen in this hobby, including the one I have personally observed, puts that statement mightily in doubt. Or to be more precise: meta currency might not be required for certain play styles. They are a valid tool for modeling heroic luck (or villainous luck in the case of my game's GM pool) though.
Quote from: Jaeger;1098832As a GM I find GM meta currencies annoying to keep track of. Why? I don't need it! Why design the NPC abilities around them? WTF?
That makes sense. If you don't want heroic luck in your games, due to your personal preferences, they at best are an unnecessary burden and at worst they subvert the type of game you want to run to begin with.
Quote from: Jaeger;1098832And as player I find GM meta currencies to induce a very board game style feel to play. Because you have a physical indicator (tokens or dice counter) when the GM is intentionally holding back, or about to bring the pain.
I kinda like expanding the tools of the GM by boardgame elements. For the Deathwatch RPG I made these cards, it was pretty sick and the artwork helped everyone getting into the spirit of the game
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/07/79/78/077978434533e339b327e8d3a7fe7d4a.jpg)
Quote from: CRKrueger;1098839The 4th wall awareness of the meta-currencies practically demands a separation between character and player with regards how those currencies will be used and the side effects they will have.
Everything about rule systems is meta, everything is 4th wall, as soon as you apply modifiers and stuff. The main difference I see is that heroic luck (and the metacurrencies which reflect that) has no correspondence in actual life. It's not tangible from that viewpoint.
Quote from: Jaeger;1098845As Player - Too many out of character group decisions made on whether or not to give the GM more "juice" to use against us later.
I'm attaching an additional price on using metacurrency (Standard Fortune), with the effect that both the party and the GM only expend it when they really want to. In the case of the party, when they're really in trouble or stuck, in the case of the GM when he, for example, misjudged the difficulty of the encounter and made it too hard for the PCs. Otherwise spending that metacurrency is kinda rare (there's freebie points though in some encounters).
Quote from: Jaeger;1098845Also makes a lot of fights a bit anti-climatic as you can easily tell when the GM is 'holding back' his fuck you points so as not to hit/Pick-on any single player too hard in a fight. I find that very immersion breaking.
Well, that could only arise in KotBL against a villain who has Favor (the individual luck metacurrency). But again - if you misjudged the encounter, you're supposed to get "punished" for it as GM by paying metacurrency. If you didn't misjudge the encounter and the players used bad tactics or rolled badly then
whatever you planned in advance for that case should take place. You should know the stakes in advance. If you don't intend the players to die in that encounter, then don't put it at stake. Put something else at stake. (If you can't think of any immediate in-setting consequences, then you can put the loss of metacurrency at stake, which will lead to in-setting consequences later.)
Quote from: Jaeger;1098845I Find GM meta points makes RPG's have an inherently more adversarial GM/Player dynamic.
I can see that. The thing is that in KotBL more devious things happen to the PCs the more metacurrency the GM has left as the story reaches its finale. So for the GM the question prior to that moment becomes then "Do I spend the metacurrency NOW for short-term pain or do I hoard the metacurrency for long-term pain LATER, during the scenario's final scene?"
So this type of GM metacurrency is not adverserial - because the pain is going to happen anyway. The GM decides only where and when, if sooner or later. And if he's a good GM, he will decide based on what makes for a most interesting and entertaining game.
Quote from: Jaeger;1098845And they make the game part of an RPG much more 'gamey'.
I don't feel that. I mean... it depends on what they do. For me as a GM, Fortune Points are a GM (not player!) empowerment tool, as it helps me to steer the flow of the scenario in entertaining ways. I made an encounter way too easy? Alright, I'll throw in a complication for the players. Which means I have to spend metacurrency, which means I have less metacurrency at the finale. Which means overall less pain for the players because I just spend 1 point to merely make the too-easy encounter a bit more challenging, instead of other pain.
I feel this is a win-win for an on-going game.
Quote from: Armchair Gamer;1098777They were also planning to do a Savage Worlds version, for the 'things that might have been' list.
Sigh. To just imagine. A decent Conan game without funky charts, mind boggling overly designed rules bloat and pretentious "artsy"-dice-wanking. And I am not that deep into SW in general.
Quote from: CRKrueger;1098839What Jaegar is getting at is that due to the system putting such a high focus on meta-currencies to emulate fiction, you're playing characters in a Howard Story set in the Hyborian Age. That's not the same thing as playing characters living in the Hyborian Age. The 4th wall awareness of the meta-currencies practically demands a separation between character and player with regards how those currencies will be used and the side effects they will have.
The meta-currencies turn the game into an abstract skirmish game.
Quote from: Alexander Kalinowski;1098855Everything about rule systems is meta, everything is 4th wall, as soon as you apply modifiers and stuff. The main difference I see is that heroic luck (and the metacurrencies which reflect that) has no correspondence in actual life. It's not tangible from that viewpoint.
.
Modifiers are comparatively quick to apply. In 2d20 Conan every time someone takes a turn there is a lengthy discussion about the use of some none or all of the meta-currencies.
Quote from: Alexander Kalinowski;1098855I'm attaching an additional price on using metacurrency (Standard Fortune), with the effect that both the party and the GM only expend it when they really want to
Only after a long discussion. That includes the GM stirring off into space or mutter while deciding whether or not to use Doom.
Quote from: Gagarth;1098861The meta-currencies turn the game into an abstract skirmish game.
Most abstract skirmish games dont have meta currencies.
Board games may though.
Quote from: Jaeger;1098845As Player - Too many out of character group decisions made on whether or not to give the GM more "juice" to use against us later. Also makes a lot of fights a bit anti-climatic as you can easily tell when the GM is 'holding back' his fuck you points so as not to hit/Pick-on any single player too hard in a fight. I find that very immersion breaking.
This seems like it could very easily turn personal. When a PC dies because that is how the dice fell, well stuff happens. When a PC dies or not based largely on the GM choosing when to apply his pool of FU points, that can very easily be blamed on favoritism / harassment. Even if it doesn't go that far, it still squarely places the blame on the GMs shoulders which could easily begin to influence how the points get used. Bob doesn't take PC death well, so I'll just use the points on Sam, he doesn't really mind. Or, this isn't a good time for a PC to die, so I'll sit on these points, hey this is a great time for a TPK, since I'm getting tired of this campaign anyway.
The Conan boardgame is a decent skirmish RPG. The minis rock and would be great for a Savage Worlds Conan.
BTW, I'm 1000% sure there are enough SW resources to create a kickass Conan campaign.
Anyone know of any Savage Conan homebrews on the web?
Quote from: Spinachcat;1099151The Conan boardgame is a decent skirmish RPG. The minis rock and would be great for a Savage Worlds Conan.
BTW, I'm 1000% sure there are enough SW resources to create a kickass Conan campaign.
Anyone know of any Savage Conan homebrews on the web?
You're thinking of Savage worlds the savage Sword of conan, about 70 pages I think?
I think I am gonna brave the meta-currency and have a go atModiphius Conan RAW whenever I can convince my group. At this stage some of it seems novel, but also some of it seems clunky and intrusive.
The content and flavour is done well, so hopefully it will work well with the system as written.
However if it does become a huge pain in the ass (which is a distinct possibility), then I'll easily convert it into BRP Mythras - my original plan a few years ago was to convert Mongoose Conan into BRP, but I never got around to it. So it's not a huge step to convert Modiphius Conan into Mythras.
I guess I won't know until I play it, but at this stage I can see both good and bad facets of having the meta-currency ingrained into the rules.
Quote from: GeekyBugle;1099158You're thinking of Savage worlds the savage Sword of conan, about 70 pages I think?
Good supplement, if a bit sparse.
Great to combine with different sources make a good Conan experience. Like Beasts & Barbarians, SW Solomon Kane, Realms of Cthulhu, Lankhmar, SW Horror and Fantasy Companions. Endless options.
Quote from: Teodrik;1099202Good supplement, if a bit sparse.
Great to combine with different sources make a good Conan experience. Like Beasts & Barbarians, SW Solomon Kane, Realms of Cthulhu, Lankhmar, SW Horror and Fantasy Companions. Endless options.
Totally, drop in GURPS Conan, the Dragon Age fan work AGE of Conan, the Hyborian Age (by who?)
If you are after content, grabbing Mongoose Conan and Modiphius Conan can't hurt either - regardless of the mechanics, both lines really do well with content and lore.
For Mongoose Conan I recommend the supplement 'The Road Of Kings' which is a really good gazetter for the Hyborian Age, I think it was actually stat-free as well, or close to it. Perfect for any GM.
For Modiphius Conan the actual core book has a fair ammount of system-free material purely on setting and lore, enough that makes the core book a worthwhile purchase for that alone
So I would grab both of these in pdf form, as the rich setting content is extremely useful for any system.
Quote from: Gagarth;1098862Modifiers are comparatively quick to apply. In 2d20 Conan every time someone takes a turn there is a lengthy discussion about the use of some none or all of the meta-currencies.
Oh, yeah, that would be less than ideal. But it's not the experience I made, for example, with Fortune in my own game or Fate in FATE. In FATE, it's just another game resource to manage and in KotBL, as I said, you generally don't consider spending it unless you really need to because you know it comes with a payback down the line. There's only a back-and-forth if the cost of not spending now is roughly equal to the expected future cost of spending now - and such decisions are an essential part of gaming.
Quote from: Gagarth;1098862Only after a long discussion. That includes the GM stirring off into space or mutter while deciding whether or not to use Doom.
Can't confirm. Anyway, that's more an example for bad GMing in my opinion; it's very easy to cut down winding discussions by forcing a player vote and have that remain binding until circumstances change drastically.
Quote from: Alexander Kalinowski;1099210Oh, yeah, that would be less than ideal. But it's not the experience I made, for example, with Fortune in my own game or Fate in FATE. In FATE, it's just another game resource to manage and in KotBL, as I said, you generally don't consider spending it unless you really need to because you know it comes with a payback down the line. There's only a back-and-forth if the cost of not spending now is roughly equal to the expected future cost of spending now - and such decisions are an essential part of gaming.
.
What a load of long winded bollocks.
Yeah, no, I stand by every word.
Quote from: Gagarth;1099268What a load of long winded bollocks.
Haven't you already figured out by now he's an RPG auteur who knows the One True Way? Honestly starting to think he's just some troll who got banned from one of those storygame boards.
Quote from: Brad;1099282Haven't you already figured out by now he's an RPG auteur who knows the One True Way?
Which one would that be? Start describing it please.
Quote from: Brad;1099282Honestly starting to think he's just some troll who got banned from one of those storygame boards.
Please name the storygames I have played and that I am a fan of, so that we know you're not making shit up.
I'm reading the Modiphius Conan core rulebook, and I am understanding the general concept of the Momentum/Doom Pt economy being a kinda a micro-game within the game.
I can see that the flow of these points is essiential to how the whole game plays.
At this stage I am cool with that, and willing to give it a shot to see how it works in practice.
I did see a GM running it, and it seemed to be okay on the day.
However I don't really comprehend why the GM receives a Doom Pt every time the PCs attempt to parry an incoming attack?
After playing BRP games for many years, there always is the defensive option of characters attempting to parry or dodge an incoming attack.
I cannot see my players digging that in this Modiphius system that the GM gets a Doom Pt everytime the player-charactes do something that was commonplace in their previous game.
It's gonna take me some time to get my head around it to be able to rationalise this to them.
Quote from: Mankcam;1099354I'm reading the Modiphius Conan core rulebook, and I am understanding the general concept of the Momentum/Doom Pt economy being a kinda a micro-game within the game.
I can see that the flow of these points is essiential to how the whole game plays.
At this stage I am cool with that, and willing to give it a shot to see how it works in practice.
I did see a GM running it, and it seemed to be okay on the day.
However I don't really comprehend why the GM receives a Doom Pt every time the PCs attempt to parry an incoming attack?
After playing BRP games for many years, there always is the defensive option of characters attempting to parry or dodge an incoming attack.
I cannot see my players digging that in this Modiphius system that the GM gets a Doom Pt everytime the player-charactes do something that was commonplace in their previous game.
It's gonna take me some time to get my head around it to be able to rationalise this to them.
I've been running the Modiphius 2d20 Conan for a small group, 3 people, weekly for about 4 months now. It has worked well for us but did take a little getting use to. The Momentum/Doom flows smooth and it's a pretty quick resolve in play. Our combats have been fast and brutal.
As for the Doom in exchange for defense, I don't have a good explanation (maybe the idea that the more time you spend reacting instead of acting the worse things will get, maybe possibly) but will say that there are ways to mitigate it. Talents under the Parry Skill will reduce the Doom cost for a defense reaction. Just having a weapon with Parrying on it will give you 1 free defense a round.
I can try to answer any questions if anyone has anything specific they want to know.
Quote from: Alexander Kalinowski;1099353Which one would that be? Start describing it please.
Please name the storygames I have played and that I am a fan of, so that we know you're not making shit up.
#triggered
Quote from: Mankcam;1099354I'm reading the Modiphius Conan core rulebook, and I am understanding the general concept of the Momentum/Doom Pt economy being a kinda a micro-game within the game.
I can see that the flow of these points is essiential to how the whole game plays.
At this stage I am cool with that, and willing to give it a shot to see how it works in practice.
I did see a GM running it, and it seemed to be okay on the day.
However I don't really comprehend why the GM receives a Doom Pt every time the PCs attempt to parry an incoming attack?
After playing BRP games for many years, there always is the defensive option of characters attempting to parry or dodge an incoming attack.
I cannot see my players digging that in this Modiphius system that the GM gets a Doom Pt everytime the player-charactes do something that was commonplace in their previous game.
It's gonna take me some time to get my head around it to be able to rationalise this to them.
Someone who's actually skilled in combat will probably have an ability to let them parry for free. So I guess the idea is a wizard or someone doing a last-ditch block or something.
Quote from: Brad;1099379#triggered
Okay, you're trolling me.
Quote from: rgalex;1099378I've been running the Modiphius 2d20 Conan for a small group, 3 people, weekly for about 4 months now. It has worked well for us but did take a little getting use to. The Momentum/Doom flows smooth and it's a pretty quick resolve in play. Our combats have been fast and brutal.
As for the Doom in exchange for defense, I don't have a good explanation (maybe the idea that the more time you spend reacting instead of acting the worse things will get, maybe possibly) but will say that there are ways to mitigate it. Talents under the Parry Skill will reduce the Doom cost for a defense reaction. Just having a weapon with Parrying on it will give you 1 free defense a round.
I can try to answer any questions if anyone has anything specific they want to know.
Yep if we do manage to play it, I am sure I'll be firing some questions out here and there
Quote from: CRKrueger;1099380Someone who's actually skilled in combat will probably have an ability to let them parry for free. So I guess the idea is a wizard or someone doing a last-ditch block or something.
Yeah that's probably a reasonable rationale for them. Dunno if it will work, but I'll run with it
Well I've rolled a few characters up and I have found Modiphius Conan to have quite an immersive character generation process that evokes the setting quite well.
Using the online generator on the Modiphius site certainly makes it alot quicker, especially for random character generation.
However the standard character creation rules are a bit of a process, but it's certainly not labourious at all, I have found it quite enjoyable.
I'm starting to understand the rules, but have yet to GM it with my group.
But it feels like it should play quick at the table once we grok the point economy.
Whoever said that "Modiphius Conan is Fate Core meets RuneQuest" was probably right. It's certainly got that flavour.
That may be an unholy union for some, but it sounds alot of fun to me.
Hopefully I'll get to try it out later this year, it's got me intrigued now
Quote from: Mankcam;1100897Whoever said that "Modiphius Conan is Fate Core meets RuneQuest" was probably right. It's certainly got that flavour.
That may be an unholy union for some, but it sounds alot of fun to me.
That sounds awful
Considering I like both games, its got me interested. Plus the range of resources and content is great for someone like me who likes the Hyborian Age setting.
I'll never know if it actually works until my group wants to give it a shot next year.
Will update this forum on the pros and cons once I test drive it.
Could be great, but it also could be a complete godawlful clusterstuff, heh heh
Fate Core meets Runequest might not be too far off. But unfortunately only the poor bits, seemlessly integrated with original mechanics developed by some of the sharpest minds in marketing.