Thanks for the replies so far, I've followed up on most.  The closest to what I am looking for right now is ZeFRS, which I have downloaded and skimmed but haven't read cover to cover yet.

The others were mostly too light for me.  

Barbarians of Lemuria is close though, my only real sticking point was the skill system of "you are a barbarian 2 so you get to add two to anything a barbarian might know."  That's a little too hand-wavey for me.  If an advanced rules supplement came out I might like this one, but I understand the point of the game and realize there is probably no desire to make such a supplement.

I don't have any D20 stuff (I had the 3.5 core books at one point but felt they were too boring to read through for me), so the D20 games are probably not going to work for me.  I actually had the Conan D20 RPG at one point, because I liked some of the changes made to the D20 system for that game, but again I couldn't really bring myself to finish reading this one.

I will keep Dark Ages and FtA in mind, both seem pretty interesting.

Thanks again!

Quote from: newtmonkeyBarbarians of Lemuria is close though, my only real sticking point was the skill system of "you are a barbarian 2 so you get to add two to anything a barbarian might know."  That's a little too hand-wavey for me.  If an advanced rules supplement came out I might like this one, but I understand the point of the game and realize there is probably no desire to make such a supplement.

Thanks for the thumbs up to BoL.
At one stage I was pursuing the actual Thongor/Lin Carter license, but the deal fell through. I had intended to expand the ruleset anyway to turn it into a more generic ruleset, but with an add-on setting (basically Thongor's Lemuria, with the serial numbers filed off).

However, with the falling through of another rpg license that I was working on during 2007, I've lost interest in writing rpg's at the moment, so realistically, I can't see it happening.

Quote from: Simon WThanks for the thumbs up to BoL.
At one stage I was pursuing the actual Thongor/Lin Carter license, but the deal fell through. I had intended to expand the ruleset anyway to turn it into a more generic ruleset, but with an add-on setting (basically Thongor's Lemuria, with the serial numbers filed off).

However, with the falling through of another rpg license that I was working on during 2007, I've lost interest in writing rpg's at the moment, so realistically, I can't see it happening.

That's a real shame, Simon.  I really enjoyed Barbarians of Lemuria and would love to see it developed more, but I understand that the fire has to be there for that kind of project.  If it helps, you have the thanks of one S&S fan...


TGA

Runeslayers might be something like what you're looking for. I have no personal play experience with it (have scanned through the book, though), but it looks like a somewhat crunchy game with a very strong focus on the "gritty barbarian" aesthetics.

As much as I'd like to sell you on BASH! Fantasy, I have to say, the best game for this genre is Simon Washburn's Barbarians of Lemuria.  Not only is it built to emulate the Genre, it is FREE!

Quote from: BASHMANAs much as I'd like to sell you on BASH! Fantasy, I have to say, the best game for this genre is Simon Washburn's Barbarians of Lemuria.  Not only is it built to emulate the Genre, it is FREE!

Washbourne..not "burn"! But thanks for the thumbs up anyway Bashers old chap. I am inclined to agree with you, although it could be a lot better.

So I know I dismissed the Conan D20 book earlier in this thread, but now I notice there is a 2nd edition.  It costs just as much as the previous edition but is not B&W instead of full color.  Posts on the Mongoose forum indicate not much has changed other than that and a few tweaks.

Anyone here familiar with the new book?  Or did everyone who plays this game decide to stick with the Atlantean Edition?  I could see that happening with a lot of people, faced with the prospect of laying down another $35-50 for the same book, with lower production values and a couple of rule tweaks here and there.