Conan in your favorite system

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This artwork just makes me want to read Robert E. Howard’s masterworks. I’ve said this before, but he’s my favorite author. The way he wrote his stories was just electric. I don’t know how else to put it.
 
His companion is wearing those kind of pants, but she is topless (looking at her back shows no straps, so that nipple cover is a shadow from her arm).
I’m going to claim she’s wearing a top with a strap around her neck buried in shadow and is attached to the pants, sort of similar to overalls in a way. Yes. Definitely. ;)
 
This artwork just makes me want to read Robert E. Howard’s masterworks. I’ve said this before, but he’s my favorite author. The way he wrote his stories was just electric. I don’t know how else to put it.
Mingled with the fact that he was never officially trained in writing, led an isolated life in a small town and killed himself at age 30 makes him even more tragically remarkable to me.
 
This artwork just makes me want to read Robert E. Howard’s masterworks. I’ve said this before, but he’s my favorite author. The way he wrote his stories was just electric. I don’t know how else to put it.
Legit, he's what got me into fantasy, Howard and He-Man got me hooked on it.

Now, to be completely transparent, I prefer superheroes, but I've loved Fantasy LONGER than I have supers, despite Fantasy being a very, fractionally close second.

If given a choice, I'll go Supers first. If they're not available, then Fantasy, then historical Pulp.
 
This artwork just makes me want to read Robert E. Howard’s masterworks. I’ve said this before, but he’s my favorite author. The way he wrote his stories was just electric. I don’t know how else to put it.

There's a phrase that sticks in my head - I think it may have bern David Drake who said it - that essentially says "Howard wrote for the jugular."
 
The first movie Conan the Barbarian gets a lot of crap from purists, but it actually is a pretty good interpretation. Arnold is perhaps not the ideal for Conan but they could certainly have done worse. There are bits and pieces of the film that were lifted right out of original stories and his little band of cohorts was very much in the style of many stories. Conan often had one or more partners in adventure, many even lived to the end of the tale.

I thought so myself. Sure, the movie was a mishmash of several of the stories, with the serial numbers filed off, but that's the story of the Conan canon, after all: a lot of rewrites, mishmashes, and serial numbers filed off. (Powerful as "Phoenix On The Sword" is, for instance, I felt the original Kull story "By This Axe I Rule!" was much better.)
 
If nothing else the 1982 film made this possible:


Wow! That is soo much awesome. I'm shocked that it's been up since 2016, has close to 16k views and only 187 likes? I wonder what the downvotes look like. Its' funny, clever and the words go along well with the video they spliced together. Should have thousands of upvotes by this time.
 
Wow! That is soo much awesome. I'm shocked that it's been up since 2016, has close to 16k views and only 187 likes? I wonder what the downvotes look like. Its' funny, clever and the words go along well with the video they spliced together. Should have thousands of upvotes by this time.
It is quite brilliant, and I don't understand why it has not been more popular either. I posted a YT video about ... Carnyx players a few years ago, and I have more views than this does. My video was an animation test, this is a work of genius.
 
OK, here's Conan in one of my favourite systems, circa the time he is about to enlist in Aquilonia's armies...so in his physical prime.
ST15, DX18, IQ12, HT18
Will 15, Per 18, HP 20 (bought with points).
Advantages: Combat Reflexes, Knack (languages), Reputation (Amra the Pirate), Reputation (Frontiersman), Reputation (Kozak leader), Reputation (Problematic Mercenary), Hard To Kill, High Pain Threshold, Magery 1 (for the spell he casts in BtBR). He should also have Weapons Master, if you're running a cinematic campaign.
Disadvantages: Outsider (Northern Barbarian), Enemy (Black Circle), Enemy (Picts), Secret (former pirate), Secret (killed a Khitaian envoy), Enemy (Servitors of Seth), Code of honour (Barbarian).
FIGHTER!-18
OUTDOORSMAN!-18
Sex Appeal-19 (He didn't mean to learn this skill, but there's so many distressed damsels in Hyboria!).
Plus a smattering of languages at the "broken" level, including some long-dead ones.
 
frankly, I don't have enough Conan knowledge to feel like i can stat him up accurately. In Mythras, he'd probably have
  • 15+ in STR, SIZ, DEX, and CON. Particularly SIZ would be in the 15-17 range, based on some reading.
    • This gives him base combat skills of at least 30%, even without trying,
    • near maximum hit points
    • a damage modifier that is 1d4 or 1d6 (if he has 18 in STR and SIZ). I tend to think of him at 1d4, and not quite as tall as some, but nearly as strong.
    • DEX I'm going to put minimum 17, because lions get a 17 and tigers get a 19, and he's compared directly to tigers
  • probably 13+ in INT, POW, and CHA.
  • We are probably looking at 90+ in fighting skills and resistances (brawn, evade, willpower, endurance)
  • He'd probably have more than half a dozen languages at 40-50+
  • his skill in command and tactics is 90+ as well, and his stealth is at least a 70.
  • He's incorporated his unarmed fighting into his combat style, and has added many weapons over the years to it.
  • Athletics is at least 70 as well, maybe 90+

To build on Raleel's Conan, I would add Crom's Gifts:

Alacrity

The character rolls 1d6+6, rather than 1d10, for Initiative.

Healthy
The character’s Healing Rate is doubled.

Lucky
When rolling for any skill test, the character can choose which way to read the d100 result. For example, a roll of 90 could be read as 09. Note: if double digits, such as 00, 11, 22, and so forth, are rolled, the result cannot be reinterpreted.

Mighty
The character’s Damage Modifier is recalculated, based on the sum of STR, SIZ and POW.

Perfection (taken twice)
Raise a characteristic by 1d6 up to the species maximum.

Robust
The character’s Hit Points are recalculated, based on the sum of CON, SIZ and POW.

Swiftness (taken twice)
The character gains one additional Combat Action.


Passions:
Dislike Civilisation 90%, Love Carousing 100%
 
To build on Raleel's Conan, I would add Crom's Gifts:

Alacrity

The character rolls 1d6+6, rather than 1d10, for Initiative.

Healthy
The character’s Healing Rate is doubled.

Lucky
When rolling for any skill test, the character can choose which way to read the d100 result. For example, a roll of 90 could be read as 09. Note: if double digits, such as 00, 11, 22, and so forth, are rolled, the result cannot be reinterpreted.

Mighty
The character’s Damage Modifier is recalculated, based on the sum of STR, SIZ and POW.

Perfection (taken twice)
Raise a characteristic by 1d6 up to the species maximum.

Robust
The character’s Hit Points are recalculated, based on the sum of CON, SIZ and POW.

Swiftness (taken twice)
The character gains one additional Combat Action.


Passions:
Dislike Civilisation 90%, Love Carousing 100%
This brings up an interesting point, namely how to address things like Crom’s “at birth he breathes power to strive and slay into a man's soul.” You could just give Cimmerians a racial bonus to Str and Con, or you could use Gifts, especially since Conan also would have “Born on a Battlefield”, and Epimetrius’ “I have marked you well, Conan of Cimmeria, and the stamp of mighty happenings and great deeds is upon you.”
 
OK, here's Conan in one of my favourite systems, circa the time he is about to enlist in Aquilonia's armies...so in his physical prime.
ST15, DX18, IQ12, HT18
Will 15, Per 18, HP 20 (bought with points).
Advantages: Combat Reflexes, Knack (languages), Reputation (Amra the Pirate), Reputation (Frontiersman), Reputation (Kozak leader), Reputation (Problematic Mercenary), Hard To Kill, High Pain Threshold, Magery 1 (for the spell he casts in BtBR). He should also have Weapons Master, if you're running a cinematic campaign.
Disadvantages: Outsider (Northern Barbarian), Enemy (Black Circle), Enemy (Picts), Secret (former pirate), Secret (killed a Khitaian envoy), Enemy (Servitors of Seth), Code of honour (Barbarian).
FIGHTER!-18
OUTDOORSMAN!-18
Sex Appeal-19 (He didn't mean to learn this skill, but there's so many distressed damsels in Hyboria!).
Plus a smattering of languages at the "broken" level, including some long-dead ones.
Enlist on the Frontier, circa Beyond the Black River, or enlist in the actual army, circa before he kills Numedides?
 
While we are thread-drifting about Conan artwork, I just wanted to jump in there with some stuff from the The Savage Sword of Conan comics from the 1970s and 1980s - to me they were Conan perfected...

1665311497270.png 1665311224136.png
1665311678131.png 1665311927853.png
 
Enlist on the Frontier, circa Beyond the Black River, or enlist in the actual army, circa before he kills Numedides?
I meant "before the frontier", since I believe his work as a ranger was a military job. After that he got noticed and transferred to a different, more prestigious branch of the military.
 
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