BRP Conan

[Jason Durall]

Besides, Elric made an official trip to Hyboria once

-V

He also visited the End of time...

... and Kane visited the Young Kingdoms.

[Vorax Transtellaris]

FYI there was also a GURPS Conan supplement. Unfortunately it's OOP because even if you don't use GURPS many of the supplements are pretty good for ideas and information.

GURPS Conan

When I checked for Conan RPGs and saw the char sheet of Mongoose Conan I quickly pressed alt + F4. I didn't know it was a d20 based system :shocked: and god those sheets look impossible! :eek:

[Hervé]

dose anyone know if Chaosium every had the right to conan

No, they never did. TSR and SJ had them.

I use to have a freach version of Conan done with BRPS. but that drive died a horrible death and I have not been abile to find it sense.

It’s still available here:
RUNE - Rolistes Unis sous un Nouvel Embleme

I am also going to include Techniques my version of BRP skill FEATS.

Feats suck. They are actually the worst thing in Conan D20. Forget about them.

I was highly disappointed when I fond out Mongoose's Conan wasn't a RQ based game and was D20.

They produced good material for the setting anyway, whatever system you are using.

The original game was done before they did MRQ, but after the publication of MRQ, they hinted on their forums that they were doing a MRQ version. I spoke with Vincent Darlage, who'd even begun work on it. Then they made some announcement that they weren't doing it.

Indeed, Vincent has finished the book but it seems Mongoose doesn’t have any plans to publish it.
He toyed with the idea of printing and selling it via lulu or other internet printers, but it’s been a while since we had any fresh news. I know Mongoose is planning an independent Conan release through Flaming Cobra, but it looks like a more a collection of settings and adventures than the long awaited MRQ Conan.

Mongoose seems quite satisfied with the sales of Conan D20 and it seems they’ll keep going in that direction for at least the next two years, even if they gave up D20 for most of their lines, like Slaine which went MRQ and Judge Dredd which is about to get a new Traveller version.

Or maybe they got frightened by the pressure of some of the hard time D20 suckers from the mongoose forum who threatened Mongoose they would never buy a non D20 conan book…
How sad…

I swear they act like they are the only reason for the industry!

I don’t blame them for wanting to make some money out of their books. Actually, when you’re a publisher, things are quite simple: If you don’t sell your books, you stop printing them, or you’ll be waiting in the unemployment line in no time. And we poor players wouldn’t have new books anymore…

And if you want to make huge profits, you don’t print RPGs at all…

Besides, Elric made an official trip to Hyboria once

I still have the original Smith’s CTB buried somewhere, but I seem to remember that it’s Conan that goes into Elric’s world to fight Xiombarg along with the albino and not the contrary. But my memory may fail me (old age’s ransom…).

... and Kane visited the Young Kingdoms.

Didn’t read this one! Who published this?

Along with the GURPS version, TSR did some stuff for Conan in the eighties.
There have been three hyborian modules for AD&D, CB1 Conan Unchained, CB2 Conan Against Darkness, RS1 Red Sonja Unconquered. Of the three, only CB1 is really good, the others being pretty much crappy…

TSR also printed a Conan RPG back in 85. It contained some real nice ideas and a straightforward system, but the rules were pretty unfinished as they were. Three adventures were published for the game CN1 Conan The Buccaneer, CN2 Conan The Mercenary, CN3 Conan Triumphant. The first two are quite uninteresting dungeon crawls, but CN3 is an adaptation of Robert Jordan eponym novel and is quite playable.

The original system is still available on the net, check it here:
ZeFRS : Introduction

When I checked for Conan RPGs and saw the char sheet of Mongoose Conan I quickly pressed alt + F4. I didn't know it was a d20 based system and god those sheets look impossible!

We have to act in a more responsible way than the average D20 fanboy and give up our prejudices. Conan Mongoose proposes a real nice range of books, most being rather devoid of ‘crunch’. Actually, only a few of their books are really D20 oriented with loads of Feats, Prestige Classes, silly rules and all. Most of them focus on Hyborian Age background and are really worth the buy.

If people around here are interested, I could post a list of all Conan Mongoose products with a capsule review for each one.

I’ll also try to put my BRP notes in form and post my own version of Conan BRP. I’ll be interested by your advices and feedback.

[Vorax Transtellaris]

It was mainly the impossible appearance of the character sheets that made me go alt + F4, not necessarilly the d20-system. I'm not even knowledgable enough about d20 to have a clear opinion about it. Let's say the sheet doesn't look to me as if the system makes for smooth play during combat situations. I also got the impression it works with character levels, which IMHO have to be one of the silliest inventions in roleplaying ever.

Anyway, a BRP version of Conan would be very nice for mixing it with Call of Cthulhu so bring it on! :thumb:

[Jason Durall]

... and Kane visited the Young Kingdoms.

Didn’t read this one! Who published this?

"The Gothic Touch" first appeared in one of the White Wolf Eternal Champion books - Tales of the White Wolf, If I remember correctly. It was reprinted in Exorcisms and Ecstasies and The Midnight Sun.

Of these, the cheapest is likely to be the WW anthology, as the latter two are extremely rare and out of print.

I don't know if I'd consider it to be worth spending a lot tracking down... the story is pretty slight.

[vagabond]

I still have the original Smith’s CTB buried somewhere, but I seem to remember that it’s Conan that goes into Elric’s world to fight Xiombarg along with the albino and not the contrary. But my memory may fail me (old age’s ransom…).

Nope, Elric came to Hyboria, Koth to be exact, to battle Terhali. Xiombarg
was responsible for getting Kulan Gath to waken Xiombarg.

Feats are not a bad idea, RQ had them a long time ago after all ...

-V

[seneschal]

Oops! Wrong thread. I thought you guys were planning a game based on late-night network television.

Late Night with Conan O'Brien TV Show, Series - Video Clips, Watch Full Episodes, Photos & Exclusives – NBC Official Site

[Hervé]

Feats are not a bad idea, RQ had them a long time ago after all ...

I don't remember a RQ edition with Feat-like abilities before MRQ Legendary abilities.

Character Advantages/Disadvantages are not a bad idea as such, but they completely blew it in D20. The major problem comes from the fact they all cost the same price (ie a feat slot given by class or level), whatever their usefulness in play. Power Attack is an overbroken feat in Conan D20 (due to rule modifications from standard D20) that allows to oneshot almost any foe, but that still cost the same price as feats like Carouser or Negotiator which give meagre bonuses for alcohol resistance or social skills...

An another problem with Feats in D20 is that they most of the time "rules exceptions", each having its own mechanics. The rules become very quickly burdensome. Also, there so many of them that it's a pain to handle them all for the average GM.

Let's say the sheet doesn't look to me as if the system makes for smooth play during combat situations.

Indeed, the D20 system is anything but smooth. The rules are what they are, but they must not prevent Conan fans to look deeper in Mongoose range, which contains some excellent Hyborian Age gaming supplements.
This may be D20, but this is not D&D.

[cjbowser]

Not to derail from the character merits/flaws discussion, but a member of the Yog-sothoth.com boards has been creating Hyborean Age creatures based on the monsters in Howard's works for his BRP game.

You might like to take a look here.

[Vorax Transtellaris]

This yog-sothoth member's posts were what actually got me thinking that a BRP supplement for Conan/Hyboria would be fun to use with CoC.
I'll try sending the author a PM and ask him if he has any stuff ready to be put in BRPC's downloads section.

As for Advantages/Disadvantages (or Merits/Flaws): I found that in GURPS they usually either made for very exaggerated, caricature-like characters or that players forgot about actually roleplaying them. I must say that I personally don't think BRP would improve by adding such an option.