Dumarest
Vaquero de Alta California
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2018
- Messages
- 15,721
- Reaction score
- 34,448
The thread about the newfangled Conan RPG brought up the old TSR game, which inspired me to take it off the shelf in my den and snap a handful of photographs to answer some basic questions about it. It's probably been 30 years since I've actually read or played it, and honestly we probably drew more from the Arnold Schwarzenegger movies than the Robert E. Howard stories at the time. So, had you bought this game when it was in print, here's what you would've received for your money (two 10-sided dice not pictured):
There's a 32-page rulebook which includes a very brief adventure based on "The Tower of the Elephant," a 48-page guide to Hyboria presented as the notes of Professor Ervin H. Roberts, a 16-page booklet detailing the talents and weaknesses referred to in the rules but separated out and including handy tables for ease of reference while playing, a big map of Hyboria (really not very useful for gaming but suitable for framing, I suppose), plus some "character folios" that I recommend you photocopy as they're too nice to ruin by writing on them.
The rulebook features a cover by Jeff Butler, I believe hot off his Marvel Super Heroes gig for TSR, and depicts Conan roaring defiantly before some shattered columns and worn stairs while flanked by two beasts, one resembling an ape and the other resembling a large lizard or small dragon. It's the same art as appears on the front of the box.
It's not bad but if we could transport Mark Schultz back in time, I think he'd have come up with something better.
The first page of the rulebook is a nice, clear table of contents that shows exactly where to look to find what you seek:
That might not seem noteworthy, but I've read plenty of RPGs where god help me if I can figure out which chapter covers "falling" and where to look for "getting hurt." (I think that phrasing is such because it's meant to be friendly to those who have not played an RPG before. Really, if you think about it, who says "I've been damaged!"? More likely "I've been hurt!" or "I've been injured!", yet games call it damage by rote.)
Of course we start with a few obligatory paragraphs of What is Role Playing? with the apparently mandatory likening of an RPG to your childhood games of cops and robbers, but with rules to eliminate the problem of "I shot you!"/"You missed!" In this instance, they refer to John Dillinger and J. Edgar Hoover in their cops and robbers example, which I assume is a nod to the era in which Robert E. Howard was writing his Conan tales. So that's kinda clever and cool.
Next they explain how to use the 10-sided dice: you'll either add together the results of each die or you'll generate a %. Sometimes you'll be told to add a number like +5 to the sum. Then on to explaining what a player character is ("an imaginary person whose actions you control") and how the referee controls everyone who is not a PC (i.e., NPCs). All fairly standard and fortunately brief: we're still on the first page after the TOC.
The next paragraph explains Talents, which determine the feats of which your PC is capable as well as her chances of success. Some talents are innate and others are learned; as you play Conan your PC can improve existing talents and learn new talents. Talents are ranked with numbers; higher numbers indicate superior skill at a talent. There are six Talent Pools, which are largely self-explanatory areas of ability: Prowess, Fighting, Endurance, Knowledge, Perception, and Insight, nicely divided into three physical pools and three mental pools. Every talent falls under one of the six pools. You'll spend 35 (or 40 if you agree to select a Weakness) points on talents of your choice, but worry not, for you can still attempt to use a talent you didn't spend points on. The rules will explain how to use talents in a bit, so we'll come back to that later.
Before you select talents (or a weakness ), you develop a background for your PC: "This includes information about his parents, his homeland, and what he did as a youth." It's a good way to get the PCs grounded in the setting as well. First you'll choose your PC's sex and give him or her a name, then you'll decide where your PC was born. This second item affects your PC's appearance as well as any special knowledge she may have. For instance, Conan is from Cimmeria so he's tall, dark-haired, brown-skinned, and grey-eyed, and "Cimmerians are renowned as fighters." There's an alphabetical lost of possible homelands from Aquilonia to Zingara, which are the options for PCs; not every land of Hyboria is included as only NPCs can come from those not listed. For anyone curious about your options, here you go:
Once you choose a homeland, you check your Racial Description in the Campaign Book, which is the new name they're using for what they previously referred to as a "notebook of information" just one page ago. Note that you can select parents from different homelands, in which case you should read about both, but your father's homeland is the one that is considered yours. It should also be noted that the racial descriptions are meant as a general guideline, so your PC doesn't have to look like the average Shemite if you decide otherwise. Your PC automatically speaks the language of her homeland. Make sure you name your parents and give them occupations as well, the better to flesh them out and give you more feeling for your PC's origins. Then, when it's time to select your talents, keep in mind your character's background: although there are no restrictions on what you choose for non-magical talents, some talents would be less likely than others depending on your background. For example: Cimmeria is landlocked, thus a Cimmerian would not be likely to have the sailing talent.
They provide an example of a character created following the steps so far: "Khestas, of Stygia, the son of Khest the Boatman and the slave Myrlias of Brythunia. Khestas grew tall, lean, and blonde-haired."
Next: Choosing Talents
There's a 32-page rulebook which includes a very brief adventure based on "The Tower of the Elephant," a 48-page guide to Hyboria presented as the notes of Professor Ervin H. Roberts, a 16-page booklet detailing the talents and weaknesses referred to in the rules but separated out and including handy tables for ease of reference while playing, a big map of Hyboria (really not very useful for gaming but suitable for framing, I suppose), plus some "character folios" that I recommend you photocopy as they're too nice to ruin by writing on them.
The rulebook features a cover by Jeff Butler, I believe hot off his Marvel Super Heroes gig for TSR, and depicts Conan roaring defiantly before some shattered columns and worn stairs while flanked by two beasts, one resembling an ape and the other resembling a large lizard or small dragon. It's the same art as appears on the front of the box.
It's not bad but if we could transport Mark Schultz back in time, I think he'd have come up with something better.
The first page of the rulebook is a nice, clear table of contents that shows exactly where to look to find what you seek:
That might not seem noteworthy, but I've read plenty of RPGs where god help me if I can figure out which chapter covers "falling" and where to look for "getting hurt." (I think that phrasing is such because it's meant to be friendly to those who have not played an RPG before. Really, if you think about it, who says "I've been damaged!"? More likely "I've been hurt!" or "I've been injured!", yet games call it damage by rote.)
Of course we start with a few obligatory paragraphs of What is Role Playing? with the apparently mandatory likening of an RPG to your childhood games of cops and robbers, but with rules to eliminate the problem of "I shot you!"/"You missed!" In this instance, they refer to John Dillinger and J. Edgar Hoover in their cops and robbers example, which I assume is a nod to the era in which Robert E. Howard was writing his Conan tales. So that's kinda clever and cool.
Next they explain how to use the 10-sided dice: you'll either add together the results of each die or you'll generate a %. Sometimes you'll be told to add a number like +5 to the sum. Then on to explaining what a player character is ("an imaginary person whose actions you control") and how the referee controls everyone who is not a PC (i.e., NPCs). All fairly standard and fortunately brief: we're still on the first page after the TOC.
The next paragraph explains Talents, which determine the feats of which your PC is capable as well as her chances of success. Some talents are innate and others are learned; as you play Conan your PC can improve existing talents and learn new talents. Talents are ranked with numbers; higher numbers indicate superior skill at a talent. There are six Talent Pools, which are largely self-explanatory areas of ability: Prowess, Fighting, Endurance, Knowledge, Perception, and Insight, nicely divided into three physical pools and three mental pools. Every talent falls under one of the six pools. You'll spend 35 (or 40 if you agree to select a Weakness) points on talents of your choice, but worry not, for you can still attempt to use a talent you didn't spend points on. The rules will explain how to use talents in a bit, so we'll come back to that later.
Before you select talents (or a weakness ), you develop a background for your PC: "This includes information about his parents, his homeland, and what he did as a youth." It's a good way to get the PCs grounded in the setting as well. First you'll choose your PC's sex and give him or her a name, then you'll decide where your PC was born. This second item affects your PC's appearance as well as any special knowledge she may have. For instance, Conan is from Cimmeria so he's tall, dark-haired, brown-skinned, and grey-eyed, and "Cimmerians are renowned as fighters." There's an alphabetical lost of possible homelands from Aquilonia to Zingara, which are the options for PCs; not every land of Hyboria is included as only NPCs can come from those not listed. For anyone curious about your options, here you go:
Once you choose a homeland, you check your Racial Description in the Campaign Book, which is the new name they're using for what they previously referred to as a "notebook of information" just one page ago. Note that you can select parents from different homelands, in which case you should read about both, but your father's homeland is the one that is considered yours. It should also be noted that the racial descriptions are meant as a general guideline, so your PC doesn't have to look like the average Shemite if you decide otherwise. Your PC automatically speaks the language of her homeland. Make sure you name your parents and give them occupations as well, the better to flesh them out and give you more feeling for your PC's origins. Then, when it's time to select your talents, keep in mind your character's background: although there are no restrictions on what you choose for non-magical talents, some talents would be less likely than others depending on your background. For example: Cimmeria is landlocked, thus a Cimmerian would not be likely to have the sailing talent.
They provide an example of a character created following the steps so far: "Khestas, of Stygia, the son of Khest the Boatman and the slave Myrlias of Brythunia. Khestas grew tall, lean, and blonde-haired."
Next: Choosing Talents
Last edited: