Hmm, I might go the total other way and run a DCC character funnel. Quick and easy the way he likes it.

For Barbarians of Lemuria, how would you say it feels, compared to playing D&D? Is the role of the DM different? In D&D it's to drain the players' resources and give them problems, up the stakes to lethality, etc., but in BoL, looking at actual play reports, it looks like tension isn't a big part of the game since it's just assumed everyone is super competent.

DCC funnels are super fun. I actually prefer them to the DCC game. I would buy a RPG just based on running funnels.

I am again going to make the out of the box recommendation of down loading and playing some free Age of Conan:

http://www.ageofconan.com

It is not perfect but it covers what it is like to play a character in the Conan universe. You get Stygia, Aquilonia, Cimmeria, Turan, and Khitai.

Lots of history and culture in just the starting area.

Learn the gods, cultural attitudes and get used to fighting other humans all the way to end game with some truly evil other wordly creatures along the way.

And you do most of it alone

Broken record turning off now

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;1036976I'll check out Exemplars & Eidelons.

My friend in question actually bought Barbarians of Lemuria because he thought it was cool (the concept) and we were going to play it once, but it never went through. Maybe I should try that game. The only reason I didn't consider it is that I am wholly unfamiliar with it.

Then try Barbarians of Lemuria, by all means! It's both created to fit the genre, and explains rather well the tropes when explaining the reason the rules are the way they are!
Also, it's got a great adventures generator, and the rules are lighter than many OSR games;).

Quote from: AsenRG;1037365Then try Barbarians of Lemuria, by all means! It's both created to fit the genre, and explains rather well the tropes when explaining the reason the rules are the way they are!
Also, it's got a great adventures generator, and the rules are lighter than many OSR games;).

+1.

There were five TSR adventures for Conan and one for Red Sonja:

CB1 - Conan Unchained
CB2 - Conan Against Darkness
CN1 - Conan the Buccaneer
CN2 - Conan the Mercenary
CN3 - Conan Triumphant
RS1 - Red Sonja Unconquered

They weren't great, but definitely usable. Conan Triumphant was the best.

Mongoose put out a sourcebook, The Road of Kings, which was excellent and worth picking up.

Has anyone here actually had a chance to play the game?

Does the adventure generator create adventures that feel like Conan stories, or are they more like your bog standard D&D romp?

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;1036762My friend wants me to run him a D&D game set in the Conan setting for his birthday. I am all for it! The only problem is, I've never touched anything Conan related in my life.

I know enough that it's "swords and sorcery" and that I think D&D's meticulous tracking of resources won't fit the feeling the game should have if it's Conan. I'm looking at systems like Dungeon World to potentially create the "Conan" feeling.

But that leads me to a question: what exactly is a "Conan" style adventure anyway? Does Conan dungeon crawl like D&D? Or is it something different? What would a typical session of a Conan themed game look like?

Basically I am trying to figure out how it's different from regular old D&D as a system and its adventures. (5e to be specific.) In both feel and content.

1: One option is to grab one of the D&D Conan modules and use that as a base.

2: Actually tracking resources is important in a Conan style setting. Food, Water, and especially money are all vital things that can spell life or death, pleasure or pain.

3: Conan might best be described as a massive overland adventure as he travels the land. Punctuated with the occasional tower, ruin, or whatever. Later in the series things graduate to effectively the "Domain" stage in D&D. Armies and kingdoms. Theres alot of variance in what Conan meets ranging from godlike beings, aliens, monsters, demons, and lots and lots of people.

4: The main differences are theres no clerics. Magic is alot rarer and magic items are alot rarer. Its mostly a world of fighters and rogues. Mercenaries and nobles. And death is close and usually very permanent.

Important question: how much of a Conan fan is your friend really?

Did he actually read the stories?
Did he watch the movie?
Or does he just have a general notion of Conan?

Because all three of those create very different experiences.

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;1037447Has anyone here actually had a chance to play the game?

Does the adventure generator create adventures that feel like Conan stories, or are they more like your bog standard D&D romp?

They feel like Conan stories in my book:).

Quote from: RPGPundit;1037652Important question: how much of a Conan fan is your friend really?

Did he actually read the stories?
Did he watch the movie?
Or does he just have a general notion of Conan?

Because all three of those create very different experiences.

This is really important.

For example, for some people Conan is "Me Barbaian, Magic Bad." But Conan becomes more thoughtful and sophisticated as he ages. And sometimes he does cast magic. Not the other-worldly-demon stuff of his antagonists, but little bits of magic in various ways.

I really recommend The Towere of the Elephant as a gateway to Conan if you want to dip into one story. It is short and you can draw a straight line from It to original Dungeons & Dragons. (It is in the linked site up thread.)

But, again. Different people mean different things by "Conan."

Finally. BoL is great and does what it is supposed to do. It isn't about resource management, but rather the Referee hitting the Players with outlandish problems and the Players coming up with colorful descriptions of how to solve them -- and then rolling dice to see if the solutions work or things get worse.

Well, the importance is really to give his player the type of Conan the player actually wants.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1037870Well, the importance is really to give his player the type of Conan the player actually wants.

Absolutely.

I went ahead and asked him what Conan he had read/seen and he said "all of them." I think he likes all of it. I suppose I can ask which version he likes best next.

QuoteTo crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women!

That is all you need to know about Conan to run a Conan game.

Barbarian warrior and friends against evil sorcerers, that works. Leading a barbarian horde in conquest, that works. Stealing a sacred artefact from a temple, that works.

OK, he says his favorite Conan is the first movie and from "red nails."