Do you think I'd be better serve by choosing a more modern game custom made for the genre like Barbarians of Lemuria Mythic Edition than a D&D clone like C&T or AS&SH?

I'm biased obviously but ACKS combined with Heroic Fantasy Handbook is designed to deliver the Conan S&S experience 100%. Default ACKS is already oriented towards S&S but the Heroic Fantasy Handbook removes a lot of the "stereotypical" D&D spells like fireball and replaces them with more thematic choices, plus it adds ceremonial magic, corruption for casters, various S&S-inspired classes like warmistress (Red Sonja or Belit), and more.

Quote from: daddystabz;1086358Do you think I'd be better serve by choosing a more modern game custom made for the genre like Barbarians of Lemuria Mythic Edition than a D&D clone like C&T or AS&SH?

Really depends on your crew. How do they feel about "modern" vs. "old" vs. "clones"? What do they want systemwise in actual play? How casual vs. system focused are they?

What's easiest for you to sell? And what do you enjoy most to run? All of these questions matter tremendously.

I've had players who wanted to play AD&D, but had a laundry list of nitpicks. For them, Castles & Crusades was the perfect answer. Brand new books with pretty new pictures with "streamlined" mechanics, but they got the "AD&D" feel they wanted. For other groups, playing with the original books added to their fun.

Quote from: 3rik;1086233Anything but Conan Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of.

What are your experiences with this version of Conan that make you opposed to it alone?

Quote from: daddystabz;1086358Do you think I'd be better serve by choosing a more modern game custom made for the genre like Barbarians of Lemuria Mythic Edition than a D&D clone like C&T or AS&SH?

It really depends on what you are going for. Do you want a game that emulates S&S stories? Do you want a game that simulates an S&S world? Do you want REH Conan where (if you read closely) a lot of the 'magic' is actually technology, trickery, and psychic powers or ghost-contacting spiritualism? Or a high magic setting like Elric where PCs battle gods/demon lords/Great Old Ones?

Personally I'm finding that what seems to work best is a fairly low-magic world with relatively high-magic and high-power PCs and antagonists. This is very accessible and fun for players, while creating a very different tone from default D&D. Examples would include Leiber's Nehwon tales and (like I said earlier) Marvel's version of Conan. For this 5e D&D in Primeval Thule is perfect. But if you prefer something where PCs are more ordinary people (albeit skilled) in a mostly-ordinary world, then systems like Crypts & Things or Mongoose OGL Conan do it better. From what Alex says, the ACKS variant falls in here too.

BoL, C&T and AS&SH are all primarily lower-magic, Simulationist systems with powerful PCs (either zero to superhero or hero to superhero). These are going to play differently from more Dramatist-inclined systems like the 2d20 Conan: AIAAUO that are designed to recreate something close to the stories.

Quote from: HappyDaze;1086376What are your experiences with this version of Conan that make you opposed to it alone?

Reading into the 2d20 system and other people's actual-play experiences was enough to turn me off of it. To each their own of course, but I really don't like the way the flow of metacurrency dictates what the GM can or cannot do.

Quote from: Marchand;1086253Shout out for Low Fantasy Gaming as well. It's low magic, and such magic as exists is dangerous.

Aye! LFG handles S&S well. Of the nine classes only two involve magic, and you could for example allow only Cultists (and remove Magic Users) for a more traditional S&S feel.

Quote from: daddystabz;1086358Do you think I'd be better serve by choosing a more modern game custom made for the genre like Barbarians of Lemuria Mythic Edition than a D&D clone like C&T or AS&SH?

Yeah, no idea man. Depends on what your group's expectations are. As I mentioned earlier, people don't view the "genre" the same, so for me, something "custom made" for it probably introduces a lot of baggage. I don't want sorcery that's so gimped no wants to play a magic-user, for example. I'm also not convinced that's really a feature of the "genre" as much as it is an online myth, but this is the wrong thread for that talk.

Edit: I would also emphasize that strictly speaking AS&SH isn't really a clone because it's not meant to emulate AD&D (like OSRIC). No demi-humans and no dragons are easy examples, but there are many other departures and additions (different class structures, initiative, phased combat, hit point recovery, alignment scheme, weapon restrictions, no psionics etc etc etc).

Quote from: Spinachcat;1086351Sounds very awesome! But $70 for an OSR core book? Ouch.  
http://www.hyperborea.tv/

Well, let's see... my cappuccino this morning cost me $5 and taking my kid to see Avengers cost me about $35. Paying $70 for a high-quality, smyth-sewn 600 page custom printed hardback (not POD) that I've used countless times doesn't really seem like too much. Thick pages, tons of illustrations, awesome gazetteer, introductory town/adventure and large fold out map. The three D&D 5E books that cover the same ground (probably less actually?) cost around the same, if I'm not mistaken, so I don't personally think the price point is off target. Of course, you can also buy the PDF for $20 (looks like it's on sale for $16 now).

Quote from: daddystabz;1086214I really want to run a sword and sorcery campaign for my new group soon but am struggling to choose between 3 games.

Which would you choose between Conan Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of, Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea 2e, or Barbarians of Lemuria Mythic Edition?

GURPS Conan, with the Magic, Bestiary, Monsters, Horror and Low Tech supplements.

You know, there's another one that I forgot to mention: 1e AD&D + the Lankhmar supplement. Changes the mutliclassing/race/magic rules of regular D&D to be a better match for the swords-n-sorcery genre.

Hmm.

Conan 2d20 is very well supported and has tons of adventures and supplements...if you like the narrative aspects of the 2d20 system.
AS&SH is a great game, with great adventures...if you like AD&D.
BoL is also a great game...if being a little light on the mechanics side doesn't bother you.

Mythras is my go-to game for Fantasy at this point, it's practically designed for Conan/S&S.

Dungeon Crawl Classics is perfect for S&S, the system is designed for "magic corrupts" and "don't call on the god's aid too often" aspects of S&S.  There are now Lankhmar supplements with rules additions to cover S&S tropes as well as a 3pp book Tales from the Fallen Empire.  Tons of S&S goodness there.

Savage Worlds has some great S&S settings and products like Beasts and Barbarians, Lankhmar, and Totems of the Dead.  There's also a Primeval Thule SW book.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1086351Sounds very awesome! But $70 for an OSR core book? Ouch.  
http://www.hyperborea.tv/

It's worth it, very high quality construction and art.

Quote from: 3rik;1086380Reading into the 2d20 system and other people's actual-play experiences was enough to turn me off of it. To each their own of course, but I really don't like the way the flow of metacurrency dictates what the GM can or cannot do.

I initially was opposed to the metacurrency flow too, but after playing it, I changed my mind. One big benefit to it is that it helps pull in everybody's attention to what's going on momet-to-moment, not just the character declaring an action and rolling the dice. This teamwork aspect, along with the more active responses taken when others take actions against you (whether attacks, social interactions, or whatever) makes it really attractive to me for small (2-4 players) group play.