Let's Create A Character - Conan by Modiphius

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Ok, I am going to do a step by step character creation using the new game Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of by Modiphius. I'll be posting each step as in-depth as I can but also to be easily understood by those who don't have the game.
 
Step One: Homeland

There are 30 different countries that you can select as your homeland. You can either roll or select from the list. Each homeland includes a talent and a language that you already know. I'll go ahead and pick Stygia from the list. Stygia in Hyboria is similar to ancient Egypt. The talent is "desert-born" and the language is Stygian. The talent allows characters to more easily succeed survival tests in desert conditions but makes it harder to succeed tests in colder areas.

Step Two: Attributes

Characters in the game have seven attributes. These are Agility, Awareness, Brawn, Coordination, Intelligence, Personality, and Willpower. Each attribute starts at 7 (human average is 8). You can reduce up to two attributes to 6 and raise the same number to 8, but I will keep them at 7.

At this point you select or roll from a table of aspects. These are things like "strong and resolute" or "fast and fit". They will alter your attributes. I'll go ahead and roll. I get "eagle-eyed" and "socially adept". Each of these aspects has two mandatory attributes and two optional attributes. At this point I have four mandatory attributes: Awareness (twice), Coordination, and Personality, one of which I have to pick as the best and one as the worst. The best attribute is raised by 3, the worst by 1, and the other two by 2. I pick Awareness as my best, Personality as my worst, and Awareness and Coordination as the other two. Since I had Awareness twice, the bonuses stack (3+2).

Each aspect has two optional attributes. One from each is picked. This attribute is raised by 1. From "eagle-eyed" I pick Intelligence. From " socially adept" I pick Willpower.
 
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Step Three: Caste

Caste is the social class the character comes from. Each caste includes two caste talents, one skill, and a story. The skill gained adds 1 skill expertise and 1 skill focus to that skill. There are nine castes, ranging from Crafter to Warrior to Escaped Slave. From the list I can choose or roll and I choose Outcast. Outcasts are considered to be beggars and petty thieves. My two caste talents are Embittered and Survivor. My skill is Thievery.

Embittered lowers your social standing by 2 and since you start at 0, I am at -2. This also reduces your Upkeep, which is your cost of living. Survival reduces the difficulty of survival tests.

Step Four: Story

There are six stories to either choose or roll from. Each story gives your character a Trait and this comes up in play when your character tries to earn back Fortune points; I'll roll and get "One of the Rabble". My trait is "Betrayed". This trait means that my character was betrayed by someone and I'm not sure who it was.

Step Five: Archetypes

Archetypes are like classes in D&D. There are ten to choose or roll from. Each archetype provides one career Skills, One career talent, four mandatory Skills, two elective skills and equipment.

The list has archetypes ranging from Archer to Witch/Shaman. I'm going to pick and choose the Nomad archetype. This provides me with the following:

Career skill: Animal Handling (2 expertise/2 focus)
Career talent: Born in the Saddle
Mandatory Skills: Acrobatics, Athletics, Parry and Survival (1 expertise/1 focus each)
Elective Skills: choose two of these three: Melee, Ranged Weapons and Stealth. I go with the first two. (1/1 each)
Equipment:
Choice of three weapons or reloads
Choice of either heavy clothing or mail shirt (different armor values and affects encumbrance)
A horse and a mule
Animal Handler's Kit and three rewards.

I update my sheet.
 
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More to come...

So far this is my character (includes steps above)

Homeland: Stygia
Languages: Stygian
Archetype: Nomad
Caste: Outcast
Social Standing: -2, Upkeep: -2
Traits: Betrayed
Attributes: Agility 7, Awareness 12, Brawn 7, Coordination 9, Intelligence 8, Personality 8, Willpower 8
Skills: Animal Handling 2/2, Acrobatics 1/1, Athletics 1/1, Melee 1/1, Parry 1/1, Ranged Weapons 1/1, Survival 1/1, Thievery 1/1
Talents: Born in the Saddle, Desert-Born, Embittered, Survivor
Equipment: 3 weapons or reloads, horse, mule, heavy clothing or mail shirt, animal handler's kit and 3 rewards
 
Given his awareness, I think he was obviously betrayed because he witnessed something he shouldn't. As he was socially adept, he could have been a child of a servant in a noble household or an initiate in Set's temple.

In contrast, Infinity has a similar lifepath system but you start with 5 Life Points which you can spend to chose rather than roll. However, they also can be spent on other options, such as buying a host body should you die or buying additional terms in your Careers. Any leftover Life Points act as bonus points at the end.
 
Sorry it might not seem very orderly. I had to type it all out on my iPad. I'm back on my PC so I can straighten it out a bit and move on to the next steps.
 
Step Six: Nature

Nature tells you how and why your character might act a certain way. There are ten natures to roll or choose from, including Cautious, Curious, Practical and Wrathful. I will go ahead and choose Wrathful. Each nature grants you the following:

+1 to a certain attribute.
1 skill expertise and focus to three mandatory skills.
1 expertise and focus to two of three elective skills.
One talent of your associated with any of the above skills. Must meet prerequisites.

Wrathful gives me:
+1 to Brawn
1/1 to Melee, Ranged Weapons and Resistance.
1/1 to Acrobatics, Discipline and Parry. I choose Discipline and Parry.
For my talent, I am choosing Courageous under the Discipline Skill.

Step Seven: Education

Education is what you learned prior to adventuring. There are ten choices including things like "Against Your Parent's Will", "Educated on the Battlefield", and "On Your Own Terms". Each one provides you with these:

1 expertise and 1 focus to three skills
1 expertise and focus to two of three skills of your choice
One talent associated with any of the above skills
Equipment relating to that education.

I will go ahead and roll. I get "Traditional". Traditional means my character had an unremarkable education, either trained in the family trade, apprenticed to someone, or tutored without any drama. My character feels blessed.

I receive:

1/1 to Animal Handling, Craft, and my career skill, which is Animal Handling. Because Animal Handling is picked twice, I get 2/2 to that skill.
1/1 to Melee, Parry or a random career skill. I choose Melee and Parry.
A talent. I choose Jaded from the Discipline skill. It has a prerequisite of Courageous, which I picked in a step before.
Equipment: Choose between heavy cape, crafting tools, or a melee weapon. I choose the heavy cape.

So far this is my character (includes steps above)

Homeland: Stygia
Languages: Stygian
Nature: Wrathful
Education: Traditional
Archetype: Nomad
Caste: Outcast
Social Standing: -2, Upkeep: -2
Traits: Betrayed
Attributes: Agility 7, Awareness 12, Brawn 8, Coordination 9, Intelligence 8, Personality 8, Willpower 8
Skills: Animal Handling 4/4, Acrobatics 2/2, Athletics 1/1, Craft 1/1, Discipline 1/1, Melee 3/3, Parry 3/3, Ranged Weapons 2/2, Resistance 1/1, Survival 1/1, Thievery 1/1
Talents: Born in the Saddle, Courageous, Desert-Born, Embittered, Jaded, Survivor
Equipment: 3 weapons or reloads, horse, mule, heavy clothing or mail shirt, animal handler's kit and 3 rewards, heavy cape

You can see the character developing a backstory and personality through my choices. We have a couple more steps before we are finished.
 
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Wrathful is great. Definitely seeing a Set temple initiate who witnessed something he shouldn't have and was totally sold out by those he loved the most (his parents?).
 
Step Eight: War Story

Most characters in Howard's stories are subjected to war in one form or another and characters in the game are no different. There are 10 different stories to roll or choose from. I will roll and receive the "Survived a Duel" story. This story can be tailored by the player to fit his character. Each story grants a +1 expertise and focus to two skills. Mine are Parry and Resistance.

Step Nine: Finishing Touches

Attributes: You can increase two of your attributes by +1 or one by +2. No attribute is to go over 14. If you have a 13 or 14, you are entitled to receive the "Ancient Bloodline" talent, which means you are descended from one of the great races in Hyboria's past. I will raise my Agility and Coordination.

Skills: You can add +1 expertise and focus to any three skills, +2 expertise and focus to one skill and +1 to another, or +3 expertise and focus to one skill. No skill can have more 5 expertise/focus at character creation. You also cannot have more than 3 skills of 3 expertise/focus at creation. I will raise my Athletics, Discipline and Thievery skills by 1 each.

Talent: I can pick one additional talent. I'm going to take the Thief talent under the Thievery skill.

Language: I can pick an additional language. I will take Shemetish.

Fortune Point: All characters get three Fortune Points at the beginning of each session. These are used for increased chances on skills rolls and other things. At character creation, you can permanently spend one Fortune point to increase an attribute by one or any skill by +2. This means you only gain two Fortune Points at the beginning of each session. I decide against this.

Equipment: You gain some additional equipment.

So far this is my character (includes steps above)

Homeland: Stygia
Languages: Shemetish, Stygian
Nature: Wrathful
Education: Traditional
Archetype: Nomad
Caste: Outcast
Social Standing: -2, Upkeep: -2
Traits: Betrayed
Attributes: Agility 8, Awareness 12, Brawn 8, Coordination 10, Intelligence 8, Personality 8, Willpower 8
Skills: Animal Handling 4/4, Acrobatics 2/2, Athletics 2/2, Craft 1/1, Discipline 2/2, Melee 3/3, Parry 3/3, Ranged Weapons 2/2, Resistance 1/1, Survival 1/1, Thievery 2/2
Talents: Born in the Saddle, Courageous, Desert-Born, Embittered, Jaded, Survivor, Thief
Equipment: 3 weapons or reloads, horse, mule, heavy clothing or mail shirt, animal handler's kit and 3 rewards, heavy cape

You can see the character developing a backstory and personality through my choices. We have a couple more steps before we are finished.
 
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Survived a duel? Was this against his accuser? It didn't clear his name but it did assuage his need for revenge?
 
Step Ten: Final Calculations

The last step!

Resolve, Vigor and Gold: Resolve is your character's mental resistance value. This is your Willpower plus your expertise in the Discipline skill. Vigor is your character's physical resistance value. This is your Brawn plus your expertise in the Resistance skill. Starting Gold is equal to the character's Personality score and his expertise in the Society skill.

My character has a Vigor of 9, a Resolve of 10, and Gold of 8.

Damage Bonus: if the attributes are high enough your character gets a dice damage bonus to certain attacks.
8 or less: none
9: one
10-11: two
12-13: three
14-15: four
16: five
Melee attacks get a bonus from Brawn.
Ranged attacks get a bonus from Awareness.
Mental attacks get a bonus from Personality.

Soak: Add the pertinent values from armor bonuses for Armor Soak. Talents give your character Courage Soak against mental attacks.

Name: There's a list of names appropriate to each region. I'll just make my own name. His name will be Aman-Sek.

Age: Pick an age or take the lowest and highest attributes and add them together. I'll do that and get 20.

Appearance & Personality: Pick a few adjectives to describe your character's.
 
Final Character

Name: Aman-Sek
Age: 20
Appearance: Tall and thin with short brown hair and piercing brown eyes.
Personality: Does not trust others, easily angered.
Archetype: Nomad
Homeland: Stygia
Trait: Betrayed
Attributes: Agility 8, Awareness 12, Brawn 8, Coordination 10, Intelligence 8, Personality 8, Willpower 8
Skills: Animal Handling 4/4, Acrobatics 2/2, Athletics 2/2, Craft 1/1, Discipline 2/2, Melee 3/3, Parry 3/3, Ranged Weapons 2/2, Resistance 1/1, Survival 1/1, Thievery 2/2
Talents: Born in the Saddle, Courageous, Desert-Born, Embittered, Jaded, Survivor, Thief
Languages: Shemetish, Stygian
Vigor: 9
Resolve: 10
Soak: Armor 1 (heavy clothing: torso/arms/legs), Courage 1
Bonus Damage: Ranged 3, Melee 0, Presence 0
Fortune Points: 3
Gold: 8
Equipment: Scimitar, Shemite Bow, load (arrows), heavy clothing, heavy cape, horse, mule, animal handler's kit
 
very interesting. I wonder if you'd at some point write up a mock combat using him so we can see the system in action?
 
Here's an example by David Thomas. He starts with making Zenobia...
Conan's wife, Queen Zenobia

Rambling Conan Blog pt.24

This week I thought I'd take a look at Zenobia, seraglio girl who becomes Conan's wife and queen of Aquilonia.

We only meet Zenobia in one Robert E Howard story, The Hour of the Dragon. She only appears in two chapters, saving Conan from the dungeons in Belverus.

She appears with a stealthy footfall, “a slender figure… etched dimly in the gray light” of Conan's cell door. She wears bracelets, a wisp of silk, and jeweled breastplates. Her skin is like alabaster and her hair was a mass of dark foam with a burnished luster.

She made the jailers drunk and stole their keys, which she gives to Conan along with a dagger. She bravely meets Conan's suspicious gaze. An untouched girl from the King of Nemedia’s seraglio, she has loved King Conan from afar ever since seeing him in Belverus years ago.

Once Conan escapes the dungeon we meet her again. She has hidden a horse outside the city wall, and has fed another guard drugged wine. Conan alerts the entire palace by rashly trying to settle the score with the Nemedian King, but she manages to lead him to a way out. He is forced to flee without her, but promises to return for her. Last we see her, she is leaning out the window behind him, arms outstretched in farewell.

After finally regaining his kingdom, Conan allows King Tarascus to live, claiming Zenobia as his ransom. “I will come to Belverus for her as I promised. She was a slave in Nemedia, but I will make her queen of Aquilonia!”

This is the last we hear of Zenobia from Robert E Howard. However, in Marvel Comics King-Size Conan Annual #4, we get a pretty great tale of Conan's return to Belverus to claim his queen! This story is obviously not REH canon, but for me it is good enough to be canon. Written by Roy Thomas and drawn by John Buscema and Ernie Chan, it's one of my favorite Marvel Conan stories. I won't spoil too much in case you get a chance to pick it up. Zenobia is adorable in the story, unaware that Conan has come back to make her queen. Great stuff!

That's pretty much all for this week's post, except I'll leave off with an added bonus. It's my attempt to stat Zenobia in the new Conan RPG. It's based entirely off the Quick Start characters, so take it as you will.

Zenobia, seraglio slave of Tarascus

AGILITY 11
Acrobatics 13 (2)
Melee 11
Stealth 14 (3)

AWARENESS 9
Insight 11 (2)
Observation 11 (2)
Survival 10
Thievery 11 (2)

BRAWN 7
Athletics 8 (1)
Resistance 8 (1)

COORDINATION 9
Parry 9
Ranged Weapons 9
Sailing 9

INTELLIGENCE 8
Alchemy 8
Craft 8
Healing 9 (1)
Linguistics 8
Lore 8
Siegecraft 8

PERSONALITY 10
Animal Handling 11 (1)
Command 10
Counsel 12 (2)
Persuade 12 (2)
Society 11 (1)

WILLPOWER 8
Discipline 10 (2)
Sorcery 8

SOAK
Armor 0
Courage 2

STRESS
Vigor 8
Resolve 10

BONUS DAMAGE (included below)
Ranged +1
Melee 0
Presence +2

ATTACKS
■■ Dagger (M): Reach 1, 1H, 3 damage , Hidden 1, Parrying, Thrown, Unforgiving 1
■■ Steely Glare (T): Range C, 4 mental, Stun

TALENTS
■■ Agile: When making an Acrobatics test Zenobia can re-roll one d20, but must accept the new result.
■■ Observant: When making an Observation test Zenobia can re-roll one d20, but must accept the new result.
■■ Courageous: Zenobia has two Courage Soak, which applies against all mental attacks. When making a Discipline test, Zenobia may also re-roll one d20, but must accept the new result.

OTHER BELONGINGS
Bracelets, a wisp of silk, jeweled breastplates
 
and then runs a little adventure...
Zenobia's Hunt, play report of a mini adventure for the Conan RPG

We decided to have a playtest of the Zenobia stats I created in my last blog post. I made a little scenario for one character, and this is the first half of the proceedings.

Setup:
Conan is away and Queen Zenobia is riding along on a hunt with her friend and somewhat father figure Count Rannius. Count Rannius is telling a story of the first time he met Conan, when suddenly the hunting party is ambushed by Baron Fabian and his men! The Baron has always had a rivalry with Rannius, and has chosen this time, when King Conan is away, to settle the score once and for all. He is unaware that Zenobia is present. As the battle begins, Zenobia’s horse bolts, carrying her away from the fighting. Baron Fabian sees her , and wanting no witnesses, grabs 3 men and pursues!

Momentum 0, Doom 3, Fortune 3

Zenobia realizes she is being pursued as she tries to gain control of her spooked horse. Reining the horse in as she rounds a cluster of trees, she leaps off and sends the horse on it’s way while she ducks into the trees.

Zenobia needs to roll Animal Handling to get her horse under control. It’s a D1 test, she adds 1 Doom for +1d20. Rolling 3d20 she rolled 3, 5, 13. Skill is 11(1), so she gets 2 success, 1 Momentum. She uses the Momentum to round a clump of trees and jump off, sending the horse on as a distraction.

Zenobia watched her horse run off, and ducked into the shadow of the trees. The Baron and his men rode around the trees and pulled in their reins for a moment as they watched the horse run through more brush in the distance. The men looked at Baron Fabian, and he yelled “Well, pursue her! Bring back her head or yours will be forfeit!” His men rode off in pursuit, but to Zenobia’s dismay, the Baron sat atop his horse and looked around suspiciously.

She has to make an opposed Stealth roll in a Struggle against the Baron’s Observation aided by his men. It’s important, so she spends a Fortune. She roll a 20, 1, and 1 for the Fortune spend. Her skill is 14(3), so she has 4 Momentum and a Complication! Baron Fabian rolls 2d20, and his men roll 1d20 for Teamwork. He rolls 8, 8 for 2 Momentum. His men fail to help with a 13. Zenobia wins the Struggle and banks 2 Momentum. Her Complication will be the Baron sticking around because he is suspicious.

The Baron slowly dismounted, scanning the woods. “I know you are out there. You picked an unfortunate day for a visit. Come out now and I won’t prolong your death.”
Zenobia imagined all sorts of horrible consequences, but she steeled herself and thought of her husband.

Baron Fabian makes a Threaten attack. Zenobia adds 1 Doom to defend. He spends 2 Doom for extra dice. His test is D2 for Range. He rolls 9, 14, 2, 12. He has Focus 2 TN 12, so that gives him 4 successes, 2 Momentum. Zenobia’s Discipline roll is D1, Skill 10(2). She rolls 7, 16. Rerolls the 16 due to her Courageous Talent. She gets a 3, so 2 successes, 1 Momentum. The Baron wins and gets 1 Momentum. Damage roll is 2, 1, 3, 4 for 3 points Resolve. Zenobia gets 2 Courage soak, due to Courageous Talent, so she only takes 1 Resolve stress. Baron banks the Momentum as Doom.

Zenobia fingered her dagger as Baron Fabian moved into the thick trees, looking annoyed. As he passed she leapt at him, stabbing as she said “It will be you who dies this day!”
The Baron attempted to raise his sword to deflect the blow, but Zenobia slid through his guard and slipped the blade of her dagger deep into his unprotected throat. The Baron went down with a gurgle of blood and a surprised look on his face.

The Baron moves into the thick trees. Zenobia attempts an Ambush (Surprise). She spends a Fortune and rolls Stealth 14(3), getting 11, 9, 1 (Fortune) for 4 Momentum. Baron rolls Observation 11(1), and gets 5, 19 for 1 Momentum. Zenobia wins and puts the 3 Momentum gained towards +3d20 (which with the Surprise also nets her +3 damage dice if she hits!)
The Barons sword has Parrying Quality, so he parries for free. Zenobia only has a Dagger and Fabian has Guard so her attack is D2. She spends 1 Momentum from her Pool to increase his difficulty by 1. She rolls 17, 8, 7, 16, 3 with a skill of 11. 1 Momentum! Baron rolls 4, 4, 16 having spent a Doom for a d20 and Parry skill 12(2) so he has 0 Momentum! Zenobia keeps 1 Momentum and rolls damage (with the 3 bonus for Surprise/Exploit) and rolls 1,1,2,5,5,6. Her Dagger has Unforgiving 1 and the Exploit action adds the Quality of Piercing 2! Damage is a total of 10 with 6 points of Soak ignored! Baron has 3 Armor Soak and the trees give 2 Soak which he rolls 2, 1 for. Total 6 Soak which is ignored due to Piercing. Baron has 11 Vigor, so Zenobia spends her rolled Momentum to do +1 damage. Baron is an Elite, needing 2 Wounds to defeat, and he takes 1 for 5+ total damage and 1 for reaching 0 Vigor. Defeat!
The scene ends and the Momentum Pool drops by 1 to 0.

Cleaning off her dagger on the Baron’s corpse and taking a deep breath, Zenobia whispered to the Baron as his life escaped, “It was you who picked an unfortunate day for your attack.”
Without another glance at the dead man, she prepared to make her way back to the site of the ambush…

Zenobia's 1 point of lost Resolve returns.
The Pools stand at:
Momentum 0, Doom 3, Fortune 1
...to be continued...
 
Zenobia's Hunt, part 2, (Actual play Conan RPG)

The GM awards Zenobia a Fortune Point for good roleplaying in that last encounter, and the current Pools look like this:

Momentum 0, Doom 3, Fortune 2

Zenobia mounts the Baron’s horse, and only has time to turn it in the direction of the original ambush when she hears hooves behind her. Glancing back she sees the Baron’s three men returning quickly, pointing and shouting at her. They have obviously realized her horse was riderless.

This chase will be a Struggle, so Zenobia’s player spends a Fortune point to get a d20. She also adds 1 Doom for another d20. The soldiers immediately spend the Doom for a d20 of their own.
Zenobia needs an 11, and rolls 5,12,5, 1 (Fortune) for 4 successes, 3 Momentum
Soldier Mob rolls 14,18,11,16 and they needed a 7, so they get 0 successes.
She wins and asks if she can spend all 3 Momentum to dramatically knock them from their horses, and the GM agrees.

With a curse Zenobia puts heels to horse and races away down the path. Having come hunting this way with Count Rannius before, she knows the area and realizes she is near “serpent’s cauldron”, a bowl-like depression among the trees which is home to many snakes. She speeds towards it, entering the treeline and urging her speeding mount to leap the pit. She then quickly reins up on the other side and waits. The three soldiers come stampeding into the trees and pull to a stop quickly, mounts rearing, when they see Zenobia stopped before them. When their rearing mounts see the serpents they panic, throwing the riders to the ground and bolting. Zenobia laughs, and urges her mount onward to look for Count Rannius.

The GM asks for an Observation test, D1, and Zenobia’s player rolls 10,2, getting 3 success with the 2 being equal to her Focus. That earns 2 Momentum which she banks. The GM tells her she sees Count Rannius in trouble, Wounded and being attacked by the last two Baron soldiers.

Zenobia heard shouts as she neared the site of the ambush, and slowed her horse. She peered through the treeline and saw dead soldiers of both the Count and the Baron’s men. She saw Count Rannius wounded and defending himself against the last two living soldiers of the Baron. By the corpses near his feet, she could tell the Count had fought well, but now with his horse dead behind him and a nasty wound in his side he wouldn’t last long against two attackers.

Zenobia’s player has a desperate plan, to run over the two soldiers with the horse. She will roll Animal handling like an attack, with a teamwork d20 from the horse. She spends her last Fortune Point and her 2 Pooled Momentum for d20’s. Zenobia needs an 11, and gets a 2,3,11,14. Since she succeeds, the horse’s teamwork counts and it rolls a 5 (with the GM deciding it has an attack TN of 9). That’s 6 successes (including the Fortune), and 5 Momentum!
GM doesn’t have horse stats available, but decides it will be 4 dice damage with Knockdown and Stun Qualities, rolled 5,3,3,2. Zenobia spends 1 Momentum to reroll the two 3’s. She gets a 6,5. That’s 5 damage and 3 Effects. The soldiers armor Soaks 2 damage, so Zenobia spends 1 Momentum to negate the 2 Soak. 1 Soldier dies, the other is Staggered and Knocked Down! Zenobia asks if she can spend the 3 remaining Momentum to say something cool and ride off with the Count to safety. The GM agrees.

Zenobia suddenly felt a red rage rise within her, and clenching the reins tightly she urged the horse forward, crashing through the trees and upon the two attackers. One soldier had his brains dashed out by a hoof, and the other was bodily knocked to the ground where he lay stunned. Count Rannius hauled himself over the saddle and held on. Before turning the horse towards the Count’s castle, she stared death at the soldier on the ground and said, “Conan is away, but remember from this day cur, that there is both a lion and a lioness protecting this land.”
 
I wonder why the choice was made to go with multiple d20 rolls, instead of d10.
 
It's my understanding that the system was originally designed for the new Mutant Chronicles rpg with a lot of fan input from the kickstarter. One of the legacies of the original Mutant Chronicles was the d20s. I've run a bit of the MCrpg and it's fun if broken in places. Had a Ronin cut an attack helicopter out of the air with a sword once. They've chosen to go with over the top action fun and it's not a bad choice really as it focusses on the differences between MC and 40k.

But it's interesting to see where the changes are as they've moved to Conan and eventually Star Trek.
 
Yes, especially as Conan and Trek tend to fall on the more "realistic" end of the genre spectrum.
 
As I've perused through the rulebook, I must admit I'm having a hard time getting inspired to actually dig much deeper. I didn't have this reaction when the Mongoose d20 version was released. I was all over that game. I'm not sure why I'm getting this feeling, if it's the rules, the text, or what. Hmmm.
 
Make sure you read the setting chapter. It's pretty great IMO balancing retreading the lore with useable at the table ways to recreate the broad types of stories found in Conan. If any chapter won me over, it was that one.
 
Thanks for the tip. I will put all my attention there next.
 
All the lore has been good so far, such as in the adventures, sorcery chapter, and Conan the Thief.
 
Make sure you read the setting chapter. It's pretty great IMO balancing retreading the lore with useable at the table ways to recreate the broad types of stories found in Conan. If any chapter won me over, it was that one.

But, just to be clear, Endless, when they are talking about creating the types of stories, they mean it, in an OOC metalayer, shared narration type of way. Either that works for you or it doesn't.

The books and adventures are still great as setting material, even if you end up using a different system for Hyborian goodness.
 
Thought I don't deny there are narrative mechanics in Conan, that's not what I meant.

In the setting chapter there is discussion as to how mercenary companies work, how brigands operate, and how kingdoms are managed. These don't really discuss the genre tropes or a meta-layer of such stories, such as starting in media res, rather stuff like how thieves sell their loot, what mercenary discipline looks like, and how brigands recruit.

These kinds of discussion as to what the PCs might have to deal with in game, rather than a high level view of the setting is what I was referring to.

There is some discussion on how Conan stories are structured in the GM chapter when dealing direct with scenario creation.
 
I know that's not what you meant, but it is what they meant. :grin:

I know Jason Durall may beg to differ but he didn't write the system, Nathan Dowdell did and I've heard his opinions on the matter.

Just letting Endless know what he's getting into. He may not know yet that every single roll a character ever makes includes an OOC decision as to whether to add 1-3 additional dice to the 2d20 with the knowledge that the GM will have 1-3 additonal Doom to make things more difficult.
 
The Doom mechanic sounds very similar to the one from Marvel Heroic
 
Cortex+ is the direct inspiration for Nathan Dowdell. Playing that game is what gave him what he has literally called an "epiphany".
 
I think I could probably do a home brew modified D6 system that probably does what I want a lot simpler and is still heroic. But I am willing to go through this a bit more.
 
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Though it does have a constant metagame mechanic, the mechanic does not push a specific story type on play as is common in RPGs that use similar mechanics, including Cortex+. It sort of stops at creating additional tension through the added conflict on an OOC level between GM and player.

It's understandably something that someone may not like, but I don't find it as restrictive narratively as Cortex+ or Fate.
 
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